Digital Waste Tracking: business regulatory impact assessment

5. Summary of costs and benefits associated with each option

79. The implementation of a mandatory digital waste tracking system is being developed on a four nations basis. Costs and benefits across all four nations have been assessed on a UK-wide basis, and are set out in this Business and Regulatory Impact assessment, as well as the final UK Impact Assessment.

80. Summary figures in this chapter are scaled to Scotland, based on population share^[36]. Detailed costs and benefits associated with each option are presented as figures across the UK. This is because aggregating data to a UK level is likely to provide a more reasonable estimate of total costs and benefits for this policy, since:

• The waste movements across the UK are highly complex and often not limited to a single nation;
• many businesses operate in multiple nations of the UK;
• much of the data is not available on a sufficient scale for individual nations to draw meaningful conclusions.

81. The Net Present Value (NPV) of the preferred option (Option 3) for a Digital Waste Tracking service for all waste is estimated at £188.1m across the UK over a 15 year period (2026-2040). Scaling to Scotland based on population share, the NPV in Scotland is estimated to be £15.0m^[37]. This does not include the non-monetised benefits and costs. A breakdown of monetised costs and benefits for Scotland and across the UK is set out in Tables 4-7.

82. We have used an appraisal period of 15-years rather than the standard 10-years for this impact assessment. We expect that the Waste Tracking system will have a long lifespan - longer than traditional ‘off the shelf’ IT systems or those based on bespoke hardware or software. The Waste Tracking service will be developed in line with the Cabinet Office’s Open Standards Principles, which means the system will be built to support flexibility and future change. This is reflected in the capital costs in the early years, and maintenance costs running over the 15 year appraisal period. The system is also being developed based on user needs through user research, and these needs will be reviewed when the system is in use, which will help promote longevity of the system^[38],

83. In 2025, the DWT project was rescoped and a new supplier appointed. The costs and benefits prior to this are not included in the appraisal as they are sunk costs. Existing requirements to deliver a waste tracking service for Persistent Organic Pollutants POPs waste and hazardous waste are considered as Option 1 and taken as a baseline. Option 2 and 3 represent additional costs and benefits on top of this baseline.

CDEL, RDEL costs to government. All other costs to business. Optimism bias included in all figures except service charges.

CDEL, RDEL costs to government. All other costs to business. Optimism bias included in all figures except service charges.

84. There are no monetised benefits for Options 1 and 2 because both deliver only limited improvements that cannot be robustly quantified. Option 1 focuses solely on meeting existing obligations for hazardous and POPs waste tracking, which affects a small subset of operators and provides minimal change to overall waste crime or efficiency. Option 2 only captures data from permitted receiving sites, leaving major gaps in the waste chain and limiting its impact on reducing illegal activity or generating measurable savings. Regulators have stated that mandatory quarterly returns would not be removed for Option 2 as waste returns currently require information about both inputs of waste into sites and outputs from sites. Option 2 would only provide half of the data required so waste returns would likely continue

Non-monetised costs

85. Non-monetised costs under Options 2 and 3 primarily relate to compliance monitoring and additional transition burdens. Regulators may incur additional costs for overseeing compliance with new digital requirements, which could be recovered through fees but remain uncertain. Businesses, particularly small and micro operators, may face additional burdens beyond those costed, such as managing data security concerns.

Non-monetised Benefits

86. Non-monetised benefits of Digital Waste Tracking include improved data quality, timeliness, and accessibility, enabling regulators to target enforcement more effectively and reduce compliance risks. The system will streamline processes, remove inefficiencies and reduce administrative burdens for businesses and government, while supporting better policy development and infrastructure planning. It will also enhance transparency across the waste chain, strengthen market fairness by reducing opportunities for illegal operators, and act as a foundational enabler for future reforms such as Extended Producer Responsibility and circular economy initiatives. Wider societal and environmental benefits include environmental improvements, improved resource efficiency, and greater security of critical raw materials, alongside positive impacts on public health and community wellbeing through reductions in waste crime and associated disamenity effects.