Weighbridge upgrades for digital waste tracking at Warwickshire Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs)

Warwickshire County Council is a Waste Disposal Authority, responsible for arranging the disposal of municipal waste collected within the county and for providing Household Waste Recycling Centres (HWRCs). Four of the Council-operated HWRCs (Lower House Farm, Princes Drive, Hunters Lane, and Burton Farm) have weighbridges. The weighbridges play a critical role in ensuring the compliant management of municipal waste across Warwickshire. The weighbridges enable the accurate measurement of waste loads from a wide range of vehicles, waste types, and stakeholders. They also support the provision of waste transfer documentation, ensuring legal compliance.

The current weighbridge infrastructure supplied by Weightron has been in place since at least 2011 following the Council's takeover of HWRC operations and has been consistently supported by Weightron since that time.

The proposed works will be delivered through a single supplier arrangement with Weightron, as the current provider of the Council's weighbridge infrastructure and software. The works relate to the Council's statutory responsibilities as a Waste Disposal Authority, including the operation of HWRCs and the compliant management of municipal waste.

The weighbridge service is currently operating effectively, however there is a new requirement to implement Digital Waste Tracking as mandated by DEFRA. The Government's intention is for this system to replace paper-based waste transfer documentation with a single, centralised digital platform for recording all waste movements helping to improve traceability and reduce waste crime.

From October 2026 it becomes mandatory for all permitted waste receiving sites to submit information about the commercial waste they receive onto DEFRA's new digital waste tracking system. This includes the HWRCs operated by the Council. There will be a second phase to DEFRA's digital waste tracking project from October 2027. This contract covers implementation (including setup/configuration), software development and annual subscriptions for the contract lifespan for both phases.

In order to comply with digital waste tracking requirements, Weightron must carry out works to ensure that all required waste receipt information is captured through the weighbridge system and automatically reported to the national digital waste tracking service.

There is a current contract in place for the weighbridges which includes servicing, maintaining, upgrading, and repairing the weighbridge equipment and hardware systems as well as providing software support. The total term of this contract is 10 years however, this is reviewed annually and 3 months' notice can be given to end the agreement. Weightron currently provides all of this service. The existing provision and the new digital waste tracking requirements must be delivered by the same supplier to ensure full integration with the existing weighbridge infrastructure and hardware.