Hazardous waste consignment notes, explained

A hazardous waste consignment note is the paperwork that has to travel with any load of hazardous waste, from the premises it leaves to the site that finally takes it. In England it has five parts. The business sending the waste fills in the first two, the carrier and the person sending the load off fill in the next two, and the receiving site completes the last one. Copies stay with the producer, the carrier and the receiving site.

The note still goes with the waste under Digital Waste Tracking, the online service run by DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) for recording waste movements. Since October 2026, receiving sites in England and Wales have also logged every load they take in on that service, and for a hazardous load the record carries the consignment note code. So a hazardous load now has a paper note travelling with it and a digital record made at the gate.

When you need one

You need a consignment note whenever hazardous waste is moved. GOV.UK describes hazardous waste as waste that's harmful to people or the environment, or contains something that is, and its examples include asbestos, batteries, solvents, pesticides, oils other than edible ones, and fridges containing ozone-depleting gases.

What makes a waste hazardous is one or more hazardous properties, each with its own HP code (a short label such as HP3 for flammable or HP8 for corrosive). Our HP code guide lists every one in plain English.

The five parts, and who fills each in

The Environment Agency's form splits the note by who is doing what.

Part	Filled in by
A and B	The producer or holder of the waste
C	The carrier
D	The consignor
E	The consignee

The producer is the business whose activity made the waste, and the holder is whoever has it now. Parts A and B say where the waste is coming from and what it is, including the business's SIC code (the Standard Industrial Classification number for the work that produced the waste) and the waste's EWC code (the six-digit European Waste Catalogue number that says what a waste is).

The consignor is the person who causes the waste to be removed from the premises, which is often the producer too. The consignee is the site receiving the waste, and Part E is where it records whether it accepted or rejected the load.

You can use the Environment Agency's own form, a note from your waste contractor, or one you've written yourself, as long as it holds the same information. If you run out of room, add a continuation sheet.

The consignment note code

Every note carries a code that identifies that one consignment. In England, it starts with the first six letters or numbers of the company name in Part A, leaving out spaces and symbols. Then comes a slash and five characters you choose, which have to change each time waste leaves the same premises. The Environment Agency's example is CJTILE/A0001. A name shorter than six characters is padded out with the letter Q.

In Scotland and Northern Ireland the regulator issues the code. A Scottish code starts SA, SB or SC, and a Northern Irish one starts DA, DB or DC, each followed by seven digits.

How the copies move

The note travels with the load, and one copy stays behind at each hand-over.

1. The producer or holder fills in their parts, keeps one copy, and gives two to the carrier.
2. The carrier checks Parts A and B against the waste before accepting it, then carries the two copies with the load.
3. The receiving site checks the note and the waste, completes Part E, keeps one copy, and hands one back to the carrier.

A receiving site has to reject the load if the note is missing, incorrect or incomplete.

How long each copy is kept

Each party keeps its copies with its records, along with any related papers such as the list of carriers, when more than one moves the load.

Who	Where	For how long
Producer or holder	At the premises that produced or stored the waste	3 years
Carrier	At head office	1 year
Permitted receiving site	At the site	5 years for the notes
Landfill site	At the site	For as long as it holds the permit

For comparison, an ordinary waste transfer note (the duty-of-care record for non-hazardous waste) is kept for two years.

What Digital Waste Tracking adds

Since October 2026, permitted or licensed receiving sites in England and Wales have logged every load on DEFRA's service, with Scotland and Northern Ireland following in January 2027. Carriers, brokers and dealers join in October 2027. The fields DEFRA asks for come close to a full consignment note.

For a hazardous load, the receiving site records the HP codes, the chemical or biological components and their concentrations. It also records the consignment note code. Where a field can't be filled, the record has to give a reason, such as no consignment note having come with the waste. If one load arrives under several consignment notes, each note's waste goes in as a separate entry.

GOV.UK says the paper method runs alongside the digital service to begin with, so the consignment note still travels with the waste where it's required. Consignee returns (the quarterly report of the hazardous waste a site received, treated or disposed of) carry on too, and their fees still apply. Our post on your quarterly waste return covers the other returns a site still sends, and what changed for receiving sites in October 2026 covers the rest of the digital duty.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

This post follows the rules in England. Wales has its own regulations, and premises in Wales that produce or store more than 500kg of hazardous waste a year register with Natural Resources Wales every 12 months. Scotland calls it special waste and works with SEPA (the Scottish Environment Protection Agency), and Northern Ireland works with NIEA (the Northern Ireland Environment Agency). If your waste moves in any of those, check that regulator's guidance before you fill in a note.

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CarrierNote produces the consignment note from the same record as the transfer note, with the right legal basis for the nation the waste is in. It checks the consignment note code and the HP codes before the record is saved, so a blank goes nowhere without a reason. See how hazardous loads work at carriernote.co.uk/product.

Sources

• Hazardous waste, GOV.UK guide for England: what counts as hazardous waste, the parts of the consignment note and who fills each in, the three copies and how they move, the consignee's duty to reject, and how long producers, carriers and consignees keep their records
• The Hazardous Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2005 (SI 2005 No. 894): regulation 5 defines the consignor, regulation 49 sets the producer's three years, and regulation 50 sets the carrier's twelve months
• The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011 (SI 2011 No. 988), which amended the 2005 rules on consignees' records: the five years a permitted consignee keeps its consignment notes, and the landfill permit period
• Hazardous waste: consignment note guidance, Environment Agency, updated 2 September 2019: the consignment note code, its format, the Q padding, a new code each time, and the CJTILE/A0001 example
• Changes to consignment notes, Recolight, 2016: the code built from the first six letters or numbers of the business name, and five characters of the producer's choosing
• DEFRA Digital Waste Tracking API specification, DEFRA developer guide: the accepted consignment note code formats for each nation, and the reasons a receipt can give for a missing code
• Digital waste tracking: check if you need to report the waste you receive, GOV.UK guidance, updated 25 September 2026: the hazardous waste details a receipt records, a separate entry for each consignment note, the paper method running alongside, and consignee returns continuing
• Digital waste tracking service, DEFRA policy paper: the phase dates for each nation
• Register or renew as a hazardous waste producer, Natural Resources Wales: registration for premises over 500kg a year, every 12 months
• Hazardous waste: consignee returns, GOV.UK: who sends consignee returns, and the fee per consignment