Waste tonnage returns: what permitted sites send the EA

What a waste tonnage return is and who sends one

A waste tonnage return is your report of the waste you have received or removed from your site. If you hold an environmental permit in England, you must send one to the Environment Agency (EA). The EA uses it to monitor compliance with permit conditions and collect national waste statistics.

Permits for waste activities must also give details of the site's technically competent manager. You must submit a return for each reporting period unless your permit has been fully surrendered. If you had no waste in or out, the form records a nil return automatically.

Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland

The EA only takes returns for sites in England. Welsh sites send theirs to Natural Resources Wales. Each nation has its own regulator and form:

• Wales (Natural Resources Wales, NRW): NRW's own spreadsheet template, one return per waste permit, and more than one if a permit covers several waste operations.
• Scotland (SEPA): all operators of waste activities at a registration or permit level send a waste data return, quarterly or annually, on SEPA's Excel form.
• Northern Ireland (NIEA, part of DAERA): a Waste Summary Return spreadsheet, due within one month of the end of each quarter.

The rest of this guide covers the EA's return for England.

Quarterly or annual, and the deadlines

Your permit's reporting conditions set how often you report: four returns a year for quarterly, one for January to December for annual. Most quarterly permits do not also need an annual return.

Each period has a one-month submission window:

The other regulators' deadlines are close but not identical. NRW uses the same dates as the EA. SEPA wants returns by the 28th: 28 April, 28 July, 28 October and 28 January (annual returns also by 28 January). NIEA uses the EA's end-of-month dates but numbers its quarters from April, so its quarter 1 is April to June.

If you miss the deadline

If your return is not in before 23:59 on the deadline date, you are in breach of your permit. The EA's form warns that its emails are not monitored at weekends, and that lateness goes by the date the EA receives your return, not the date you filled it in. The EA handles over 7,000 returns a quarter, so send yours early in the window.

What to include and what to leave out

Include the waste received and removed under your permit. That covers waste transfer and treatment, including interceptor or sealed drainage waste your process creates.

Leave out:

• waste you have not formally accepted
• quarantined waste relocated to another site
• other waste not produced as part of your permitted activities

Canteen waste, office waste and car park interceptor waste do not go on the return. For those, follow the normal rules for business and hazardous waste.

The waste tonnage return is not the hazardous waste consignee return. Consignee returns go to hazwastereturn@environment-agency.gov.uk. If you send one to the waste returns address, it will not be processed.

What goes on the form

As of April 2026 the EA only accepts version 17.0 of the waste tonnage return form. Using the wrong form may put you in breach of your permit. The form has four pages to complete.

1. Site information

The date you filled in the form, the quarter and year, operator, permit number, site name, address, postcode and facility type, whether a weighbridge was used and the percentage weighed, and a declaration with your name, position, phone and email. Enter the permit number in capitals, with no spaces, brackets or "EPR" prefix. Mobile plant must give the full address the permit was issued to.

2. Waste received

One line per type of waste:

• Origin: the local authority area the waste came from, picked from the form's list. Use the smallest area you can, or "Outside UK".
• EWC code: six digits, no spaces. Your permit lists the EWC codes your site can accept.
• Disposal or recovery (D or R) code: what you do with it, entered exactly as listed. Your permitted D and R codes are in Schedule 1 of your permit.
• Municipal source and degradable (yes or no).
• State: solid, liquid, sludge, powder, gas or mixed.
• From another activity: the type of facility it came from, "No facility" if that doesn't apply, or an unknown option if it does but you don't know which facility.
• Amount in tonnes (not kilograms), and pre-treatment if it applies.

3. Waste removed

Destination area, EWC code, municipal source, state, the D or R code for what the receiving facility will do with it, and tonnes.

4. Technical competence

Choose "No TCM change since last return", "No scheme" (exempt facility types), "WAMITAB / CIWM" with each manager's name and date of birth, or "EU Skills / ESA" with the accreditation body and certificate number. Nil-return sites still complete this page.

You report totals for the period, not individual loads, so combine lines when every field is identical. Lines with blank or zero tonnage are ignored.

How to send it

The EA's steps are:

1. Download the waste tonnage return form and save it to your device.
2. Complete it in Microsoft Excel and save it in the original Excel format.
3. Attach it to an email to national-operator-returns@environment-agency.gov.uk.

The form does not work properly in Google Sheets or Apple Numbers, and the EA does not accept other file formats. The form adds: no PDFs or images, no ZIP files, no file-sharing links, and no more than five returns per email. Put your permit number, quarter and year in the subject.

Paper returns

The EA's guidance now describes only the Excel form. If you can't use it, contact the EA to ask for an alternative format on 03708 506 506. In Wales, NRW offers a paper return form on request if you can't email the spreadsheet.

Corrections and resubmissions

Resubmissions, late returns and returns for older periods all use the same version 17.0 form. The form asks if you are resubmitting, and why, for an older or future period.

Timing matters, says the form's guidance:

• If the EA rejects a return sent within the window, your resubmission counts as a new return. If that arrives after the window has closed, it is late and may face enforcement action.
• If you amend a return (at the EA's request or your own) and the original arrived within the window, the first submission date stands.

The form's built-in checks only confirm required fields are filled in. You remain responsible for accuracy.

Digital Waste Tracking does not replace returns yet

From 1 October 2026, permitted sites in England and Wales must report each load of waste they receive through the 'Report receipt of waste' service, within 2 working days.

That is on top of your return. Until further notice, you must continue to submit waste returns in line with the conditions of your environmental permit, and hazardous waste consignee returns too. Government and the regulators are developing transition plans. In Northern Ireland, DAERA says the service becomes mandatory for waste receivers from January 2027.

Before you submit: a checklist

• You are using version 17.0 downloaded from GOV.UK, opened in Microsoft Excel.
• The quarter and year are right, and the form completion date is today's date.
• The permit number is in capitals, with no spaces and no "EPR" prefix.
• Every EWC code is one your permit allows, entered as six digits.
• Every D or R code is picked from the list, not typed as a description.
• Tonnages are in tonnes, not kilograms.
• Waste you didn't formally accept, and quarantined waste moved elsewhere, is left out.
• The technical competence page is complete, even for a nil return.
• The Site Information page shows no validation errors, and you saved the file on that page.
• The email subject has your permit number, quarter and year, with the Excel file attached.
• It goes in early in the window, and well before 23:59 on the last day.
• Your Digital Waste Tracking records don't replace this return: send both.

Common questions

When are Environment Agency waste returns due?

Each quarter has a one-month submission window straight after it ends: 1 to 30 April, 1 to 31 July, 1 to 31 October and 1 to 31 January. Annual returns, for permits with annual reporting, are due between 1 and 31 January of the following year.

What happens if I send my waste return late?

If your return is not in before 23:59 on the deadline date, you are in breach of your permit. The EA's form says lateness goes by the date the EA receives your return, not the date you filled it in.

How do I submit a waste tonnage return to the Environment Agency?

Download the waste tonnage return form, complete it in Microsoft Excel and save it in the original Excel format. Then attach it to an email to national-operator-returns@environment-agency.gov.uk. As of April 2026 the EA only accepts version 17.0 of the form, and it does not work properly in Google Sheets or Apple Numbers.

Do I need to send a waste return if no waste came in or went out?

Yes. You must submit a return for each reporting period unless your permit has been fully surrendered, and the form records a nil return automatically. Nil-return sites still complete the technical competence page.

Does digital waste tracking replace waste returns?

Not yet. Until further notice, you must continue to submit waste returns in line with the conditions of your environmental permit, on top of reporting each load you receive through the Report receipt of waste service.

Check the official guidance

This guide is based on these pages. Rules change, so check them for the latest position.

• National operator waste returns (GOV.UK / Environment Agency)
• Waste returns: email spreadsheet (GOV.UK / Environment Agency)
• Waste returns spreadsheet for email returns: Version 17.0 (GOV.UK / Environment Agency)
• Digital waste tracking: check if you need to report the waste you receive (GOV.UK / Defra and Welsh Government)
• Submit your waste return (Natural Resources Wales)
• Waste data returns (Scottish Environment Protection Agency)
• Waste summary returns form and guidance (DAERA / Northern Ireland Environment Agency)
• Digital Waste Tracking (DAERA)