In this issue of Sustainability Today, we have featured Wastrio as our Waste Management Software Company of the Month.
Photos by Jack Roberts
The world of waste management is changing in a major way later this year. From 1st October 2026, permitted waste sites in England and Wales will be legally obliged to report the waste they receive to DEFRA within two working days. Scotland and Northern Ireland follow in January 2027.
Wastrio is a waste management software company that is making this transition less painful. It makes digital waste tracking simple for transfer stations, skip companies and waste carriers alike, allowing them to log waste at the gate, generate legal transfer notes, and get every load ready for DEFRA.
Founded by Steve Brown, the company has been in operation since March and was established to help clients manage waste tracking compliance. Building on years of experience in the UPVC recycling industry, Steve began developing the technology behind Wastrio in 2025, taking his industry expertise and combining it with his burgeoning skills in coding.
After sharing the software with some industry contacts and larger companies, Wastrio took part in both the private and public beta test of DEFRA’s new system and since then has grown from strength-to-strength with its innovative and easy-to-use solutions.
At its core, Wastrio is a digital waste tracking system that was built with simplicity in mind. Rather than create a convoluted and complex system, Steve developed the software with its key service users at its heart, “The primary role of the software is to make it easy for the guys on the yard and the drivers who are collecting waste.” He says, “The office staff can complete the rest of the paperwork and fill in the blanks, but we are focussed on the people actually on the ground who deliver that essential data.”
The process is astonishingly simple. Clients create an account, add their permitted site, waste streams and team members, and are ready to start logging in under an hour. As the carrier pulls up, the client then logs the EWC code and weight, as well as the carrier and vehicle registration. This takes under a minute per load and staff can be trained quickly in its implementation.
Once these details are logged, Wastrio handles the rest. It creates the digital Waste Transfer Note (WTN), captures e-signatures and, most importantly, formats the data for DEFRA submission. DEFRA then issues a waste tracking ID for the load. Everything comes from the one record logged at the gate, so there’s nothing to reconcile afterwards. Wastrio is software compatible with Digital Waste Tracking, Report Receipt of Waste.
“With the new legislation people have now got to log a lot of the same information they’re already collecting on a separate system to submit to DEFRA and get a waste tracking ID back.” Steve explains, “What we’ve done is make that into one job, rather than adding a separate job on top of it.”
While keeping the software simple is key to Wastrio’s success, the company stands out because of its commitment to supporting waste companies of all sizes. Wastrio’s core goal is to get businesses ready for the change and then support them as they go through the legislation.
Central to this ethos is the idea of getting the word out. Recently Steve chaired the Digital Waste Tracking panel at this year’s Resource & Waste Management Expo (RWM). It was the busiest speaking slot at the show and brought together operators and technology providers who were already live on DEFRA’s new system to share what’s working, what isn’t, and what the industry needs to do before the deadline hits. In this regard, Wastrio stood out on the panel as a staunch advocate for waste management operators, placing their concerns front and centre.
As the company grows, Wastrio has also brought on a Sales and Marketing Manager to support the range of businesses it works with, from one-man operations to large multi-site groups.
Looking forward, Wastrio is planning to not only help clients navigate the changes coming in October, but to continue supporting business owners through further stages of DEFRA’s ongoing plans, including the next phase, planned for October 2027, which brings carriers, brokers and dealers into scope.
Wastrio is a company that puts its clients at the heart of what it does. By putting simplicity and transparency at the centre of its operations, Wastrio is not only providing innovative solutions to the issues of waste management today, but proving itself to be a long-term partner,
primed to take on the challenges of the future.
For more on Wastrio, please see below:
https://wastrio.co.uk