Updates on Mandatory Digital Waste Tracking

  Matthew Gawn
ISB Global, Market Intelligence Report: March 2023 

March 2023 Updates

A summary of activities has been provided so that interested parties can digest that stage of the project and how things are progressing.

  • Signed contract with IT partner to develop solution
  • Building and testing the MDWT has begun
  • User feedback has started
  • Refinement based on feedback has started
  • There is a focus on Green List Waste
  • A Public Consultation Summary has been published
  • There is further research into hazardous materials consignment notes
  • An ongoing review of solution architecture
  • A request to join a research panel using the MDWT application

DEFRA – Mandatory Digital Waste Tracking Software Application

DEFRA has announced that they’ve have completed their procurement exercise and now have signed a contract with their IT supplier to build the waste tracking service.

They have been carrying out various project inception activities to onboard and start working with the software development supplier in closed beta phase. This is the phase where DEFRA, partner and users will be building the service for real and conducting initial testing this with a small number of invited participants in a controlled environment.

This allows DEFRA to see how well the service performs and meets the needs of users and user feedback can be used to inform further refinement of the service. The initial focus will be on exports of green list waste. DEFRA are now working with the project stakeholders to ensure they have everything they need to proceed with development.

Public Consultation Published

At the end of last year, DEFRA published a summary of the responses received to the public consultation on introducing mandatory digital waste tracking. DEFRA are continuing to work with stakeholders as they develop and refine our proposals, and this will carry on as we design and test the IT service. A Government response to the consultation is planned to be published in the Spring.

Hazardous Waste & Green List Waste Trials

Since the last update DEFRA has continued to progress prototypes for hazardous waste and green list waste exports:

For green list waste, they’ve researched bulk submissions for high-volume exporters to enter their information. Currently exploring simpler methods to submit information for consistent patterns of exports. Upcoming research is to be conducted into importing waste into the UK and how information on interim sites can be captured.

For hazardous waste movements, which involves a more complex multi-party model around the provision and agreement of waste information, DEFRA has focused on prototyping declarations that are needed when the waste is passed from producer to carrier, to receiving site. They are now exploring how non-hazardous waste movements can also be brought into this similar model.

Using the latest iteration of the prototype, the team has recently completed the latest round of usability testing for hazardous waste with waste operators working through two scenarios. This has allowed testing on how the current consignment note declarations are working in a digital format as waste is moved from producer to carrier, to receiving site. DEFRA has received some very welcome feedback that will help improve the design of the service.

For green list waste, the team are trying to design and research different routes that will enable people to submit information about their waste exports and are currently testing the use of templates. There has been excellent involvement of the user panel and they’ve captured valuable insights to feed into our designs.

Other more underpinning work for the service has been on developing our overarching solution architecture, the data model and non-functional requirements such as security standards.

Join the User Panel

DEFRA are still looking for experienced people to help design and build. Why not get involved in shaping the waste tracking system by taking part in user research and usability testing? It’s a great way for your organisation to understand more about the system. Sign up here.

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