Check your Defra Receipt of Waste spreadsheet before you send it
Upload Defra’s completed spreadsheet once. ComplyOnSite checks the published workbook fields and Defra’s published rules, fixes unambiguous formatting slips, and gives you back a checked Excel file, an improved working copy, or a precise list of what still needs your attention.
- Free to use
- Built for the official spreadsheet
- One upload, one clear answer
Check a spreadsheet
Your spreadsheet is used only to run this check. ComplyOnSite does not keep a copy.
Or drag the file onto this page. Excel .xlsx only, up to 2 MB.
What comes back
A checked spreadsheet when nothing blocks it. If safe fixes are possible but other problems remain, you get a clearly unfinished working copy with separate fixed and remaining lists. If nothing can be fixed safely, you get the remaining list without a redundant download.
No questions to answer, no report to read. One file in, one answer out.
What the checker tells you
Every finding says what is wrong, what to do about it, and exactly where to look in your own file. These are real examples, in the checker’s own words.
Waste movements sheet · Means of transport
The means of transport is not an official value.
Choose an exact value from the workbook list.
When the right value is beyond doubt — “road” for “Road” — the checker fixes it for you and says so.
Waste items sheet · EWC code
An EWC code is absent from the pinned official workbook reference list.
Check the classification and choose a code from the workbook reference sheet.
This one needs a fact only you hold, so the checker names the exact cell and leaves it to you.
Waste movements sheet · Receiving site name
A value required by the Defra workbook is missing.
Enter the missing value in the highlighted cell using the source record.
This one needs a fact only you hold, so the checker names the exact cell and leaves it to you.
Movement MOVE-002
This movement has no linked waste item.
Add an item for this movement or correct an existing item reference.
This one needs a fact only you hold, so the checker names the exact cell and leaves it to you.
ComplyOnSite only ever rewrites a value when the original and the fix mean exactly the same thing and Defra’s published lists allow just one form of it. Everything else is reported, never guessed.
Before you use it
The spreadsheet it is built for
Defra’s Receipt of Waste spreadsheet — the one you download from the Report receipt of waste service and fill in with the loads your site takes in. One file, with its own sheets, as many movements and receiving sites as you need, for one organisation.
ComplyOnSite compares your file with an unchanged copy of that official spreadsheet. A renamed sheet or a rebuilt template is refused rather than quietly corrected.
What it checks
- Movement details: the reference, date and time received, receiving site address and postcode, and the receiver authorisation number.
- Carrier and transport: registration number or a valid reason for not having one, means of transport, and vehicle registration for road movements.
- Waste items: EWC codes, physical form, containers, weights and units, and disposal or recovery allocations.
- The links between them: every movement has at least one waste item, every item points at a real movement, and references are not reused.
EWC codes, container types and disposal and recovery codes are checked against the lists inside Defra’s own spreadsheet, not a copy typed out by us.
What it cannot do for you
It cannot supply information only you hold — a permit number, a carrier registration, the real weight on the weighbridge ticket. Those come back as a named list for you to fix in your own file.
It does not handle hazardous waste, POPs or consignment-note cases. If your spreadsheet contains those, the checker stops and says so instead of guessing.
Then it is over to you
Defra asks receiving sites to report each load within two working days of it arriving. Only when the result says the spreadsheet is checked, download it, then sign in and upload it at report-receipt-of-waste.service.gov.uk. ComplyOnSite does not submit anything for you.
Questions people ask
- Does this send my spreadsheet to Defra?
- No. ComplyOnSite checks the spreadsheet and hands it back to you. Signing in to Defra’s service and uploading it stays your step, so nothing is reported without you.
- What happens to my spreadsheet?
- It is sent once, checked, and the result comes straight back. ComplyOnSite does not keep the file, its contents or your results.
- What does it fix on its own?
- Only formatting slips with exactly one right answer — stray spaces, “yes” instead of “Yes”, “road” instead of “Road”, “1.0” containers instead of “1”. It never invents a value, picks a permit, changes a weight or moves anything between rows.
- Can I check several sites at once?
- Yes, as long as they are on one spreadsheet for one organisation. The official workbook holds many movements and many receiving sites; check the file you are about to send.
- I have changed the spreadsheet. Will it still work?
- Use Defra’s official Excel .xlsx file and keep its sheets and layout unchanged. If the checker cannot verify the workbook structure, it stops and tells you rather than writing into the file.
- Why is there a 2 MB limit?
- Defra’s own upload service rejects spreadsheets over 2 MB, so a bigger file would fail there anyway. The official workbook stays far smaller than this, even with hundreds of movements in it.