WasteSync has been featured in the UK's leading SME publication, Business Matters Magazine, in an in-depth founder profile exploring our mission to keep UK waste sites moving during the transition to mandatory digital waste tracking.
In the interview with reporter Amy Ingham, our founder and MD Alastair Mackie discussed the operational reality facing UK waste sites ahead of the October 2026 mandate:
"Waste management is massive. It is essential national infrastructure, yet vast swathes of daily operations still depend on physical clipboards, crumpled paper tickets and siloed spreadsheets. Crucially, waste facilities and transfer stations often sit in connectivity blackspots where standard mobile signal drops out entirely.
If software requires constant 4G or 5G to function, it fails at the gate. We built WasteSync from the ground up to be offline-first, meaning crews can log movements, verify loads and store records uninterrupted, with everything syncing automatically the moment a connection returns."
Key highlights from the feature
- DEFRA approval: In July, WasteSync successfully cleared all 14 of DEFRA's official test cases and received approval to connect to the live Digital Waste Tracking system ahead of the October 2026 deadline for England and Wales (and Scotland following in January 2027).
- Early pilot traction: Sharing details on our first customer pilots with a Scottish local authority and an electrical waste processor, both of whom saw the system capture transfers without any active connection.
- Founder journey: Alastair's move from senior management and private banking at Lloyds Banking Group—where he led digital innovation and automated workflow initiatives—to founding WasteSync and winning the University of Strathclyde's Inspire 100 competition in June.
- Data integrity over hype: Why building for regulated sites demands commercial discipline and technical defensibility: "In our sector, bad data is worse than no data."
The full profile covers our technology approach, founder influences from Naval Ravikant and classic commercial fundamentals, and why essential, overlooked industries deserve better software.
👉 Read the full interview on Business Matters
Preparing your weighbridge or transfer station for the digital waste tracking deadline? We are currently running 14-day shadow pilots. Apply for a pilot slot or connect with Alastair on LinkedIn.