Disposal and recovery codes (D and R codes)
A D or R code says what happens to waste at the site that takes it in. D1 to D15 are disposal operations and R1 to R13 are recovery operations. A receiving site records one for each waste code on every Digital Waste Tracking receipt.
The codes are the two lists in the Waste Framework Directive: Annex I for disposal and Annex II for recovery. The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026 point to those two annexes for the codes a receipt records.
For each EWC code (the six-digit code from the List of Wastes that says what a waste is) on a receipt, the site records the D code or the R code, or both, and the weight each code covers. DEFRA's service accepts a receipt sent without one, but flags it with a warning.
The law ranks what to do with waste in this order: prevention, preparing for re-use, recycling, other recovery such as energy recovery, and disposal last. An R code says the waste is being recovered, which ranks above disposal.
D13 to D15, R12 and R13 are steps on the way to another operation. They cover blending, repackaging or storing waste before disposal, and exchanging, preparing or storing it before recovery, so they fit a site that holds or prepares waste and then sends it on.
Disposal codes, D1 to D15
- D1Deposit into or onto land
- D2Land treatment
- D3Deep injection
- D4Surface impoundment
- D5Specially engineered landfill
- D6Release into water
- D7Release to sea
- D8Biological treatment
- D9Physico-chemical treatment
- D10Incineration on land
- D11Incineration at sea
- D12Permanent storage
- D13Blending before disposal
- D14Repackaging before disposal
- D15Storage pending disposal
Recovery codes, R1 to R13
- R1Use as a fuel
- R2Solvent reclamation
- R3Recycling organic substances
- R4Recycling metals
- R5Recycling inorganic materials
- R6Regenerating acids or bases
- R7Recovering abatement components
- R8Recovery from catalysts
- R9Oil re-refining
- R10Land treatment with benefit
- R11Using waste from R1 to R10
- R12Exchange before recovery
- R13Storage pending recovery
Sources
- Annex I to the Waste Framework Directive: disposal operations
- Annex II to the Waste Framework Directive: recovery operations
- The Digital Waste Tracking (England) Regulations 2026: Sch. 1, para. 14: the D or R code for each waste code on a receipt
- The Waste (England and Wales) Regulations 2011, regulation 12: the waste hierarchy
- DEFRA: Digital Waste Tracking production approval tests: test R04, a receipt with no D or R code, accepted with a warning
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CarrierNote is on the GOV.UK software provider list, connected to DEFRA's Digital Waste Tracking service. Receiving sites are in scope from October 2026 and carriers from October 2027, and you can be recording to DEFRA's standard from your first load, whenever you start.