Our DEFRA test results
DEFRA publishes a set of test scenarios for software that sends waste records to it. Here's how ours does on each one, and what that means for you.
Last updated 18 October 2026
How the tests work
DEFRA (the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) runs a test copy of Digital Waste Tracking, its online system for recording waste, so software can be tried without touching real records. For each scenario we put a sample receipt through CarrierNote into that test copy. DEFRA gives the record a Waste Tracking ID (the reference it gives every record), and then we ask DEFRA’s results service whether that record meets the scenario. It answers Pass or Fail.
DEFRA doesn’t review or mark anyone’s results. Each software provider runs the tests, reads its own results and decides whether its software does what the rules need. This page is where we show you ours.
Our results
12 of the 14 scenarios come back Pass. The other two are records the law says shouldn’t exist, and CarrierNote refuses them before anything leaves the app, which is what those two scenarios are there to check.
| Scenario | What it checks | Our result |
|---|---|---|
| R01 | A receipt with one waste item | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| R02 | A receipt with several waste items | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| R03 | Waste that came by road | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| R04 | No disposal or recovery code given (DEFRA accepts it with a warning) | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| R05 | One waste item with more than one disposal or recovery code | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| R07 | One waste item with more than one EWC code | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| C01 | A carrier with no registration number and no reason why | Refused by us, as it should be |
| C02 | A carrier with no registration number, with the reason why | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| B01 | A broker or dealer arranged the move | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| P01 | Waste containing several POPs | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| H01 | Hazardous waste with several hazardous components | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| H02 | Hazardous waste with no consignment note code and no reason why | Refused by us, as it should be |
| H03 | Hazardous waste with no consignment note code, with the reason why | Pass, DEFRA's result |
| X01 | Waste that's hazardous and contains POPs | Pass, DEFRA's result |
A few terms from the table. A disposal or recovery code says what happens to the waste next. An EWC code is the six-digit European Waste Catalogue number that says what a waste is. POPs are persistent organic pollutants, long-lasting chemicals that have to be tracked. A consignment note code is the reference on the note that has to travel with hazardous waste. DEFRA withdrew scenario R06, so there’s no test for it.
The two scenarios we refuse on purpose
C01 is a carrier with no registration number and no reason for not having one. H02 is hazardous waste with no consignment note code and no reason for its absence. The law needs one or the other in both cases, so CarrierNote won’t let you save the record until you add it.
DEFRA’s test expects these records to be refused, and they are, by us, before anything reaches DEFRA. That means DEFRA never sees them and has nothing to give a result on. DEFRA’s own guidance says to read the result this way when the software blocks the record itself, and to keep evidence that it does. We keep ours from every run.
How often we check
Every time we change CarrierNote, all 14 scenarios run again against the new version before it reaches you. DEFRA’s results service has to answer Pass on all twelve it can grade, or the change doesn’t go out. We keep a dated record of every run, with each scenario and its result.
What the results mean for you
Which software you use is your choice, and so is checking that it does what your business needs. These results are here to help you do that.
DEFRA has given us production credentials, the keys that let software send records to the live service. Those keys don’t mean DEFRA has checked that our software meets the law, and you can’t rely on them as if they did.
If you run a site that takes waste in, the legal duty to record each load with DEFRA is yours, and so is the responsibility if a record is wrong or missing, whatever software you use. Our Terms of service say the same.
None of DEFRA’s scenarios is outside what CarrierNote does, and none goes untested. If that ever changes, this page will say which one and what it means for what you can record.
Questions about any of this? Get in touch.