Frequently Asked Questions

It is how most contractors use us. We act as your site's goods-out desk: we book collections through checked hauliers, make one load record per load at the point it leaves site, have a named person check each record, and send you one evidence pack a month. It starts from £500 + VAT a site a month, with a three-month minimum and one month's notice after that. Setup is £750 + VAT per contractor; we may waive or reduce it, and say so in writing. Buyers pay us a commission on the metal, which is why the record costs you less than doing it yourself. Collections are subject to material eligibility, site access, capacity and agreed scope.

Producer and site address, SIC code, material and six-digit EWC code, the hazardous and POPs check, containers, carrier name and registration with the date it was checked on the Environment Agency register, receiving site and permit number, recovery code, collection date, time and vehicle, photos, the WTN reference, weighbridge ticket number and gross, tare and net weights, and the reviewer's name and date. Your waste transfer note is still issued; the load record carries its reference.

Our current focus is on eligible copper, aluminium, non-hazardous cable and uPVC from construction and related commercial activities. We may also be able to review other recyclable streams through our partner network, depending on material condition, location, volume, downstream capacity and agreed commercial terms.

Sometimes. We are paid a commission of 15–25% on the resale value of what we collect. If a load is worth enough to cover its own haulage, there is no collection fee. That usually applies to copper and aluminium loads at or above our minimum viable load. If it isn't, we charge a fee to cover the trip:

• Bulk bag or van collection (up to about 1 tonne): £175
• Skip- or grab-sized load: £325
• Full articulated load: £595
• Wasted journey (no access, material not ready, or contaminated): £95

All fees are plus VAT. Where a buyer pays for the material, its value after our commission is taken off the fee on the same invoice. PVC offcuts are worth too little per tonne to cover haulage, so PVC collections nearly always carry a fee.

We confirm whether a fee applies, and how much, before we book. Every collection includes a waste transfer note and load record, and is subject to material eligibility, site access, capacity and agreed scope.

Yes. Our service can complement an existing waste-management arrangement by focusing on agreed material streams such as PVC, copper or aluminium. We don't require exclusivity unless this is separately agreed in writing.

• Site address and access requirements
• Material type and description
• Estimated quantity and frequency
• Photographs where practical
• Material condition and likely contamination
• Container/storage arrangement
• Required collection date or time window
• Existing waste-management arrangements
• Site contact and health-and-safety/induction requirements

Our target is collection within 48 hours of booking, subject to material eligibility, site access, capacity and agreed scope. We confirm the actual date before booking.

We assess material acceptance before booking wherever possible. If material is contaminated, mixed with unsuitable items, unsafe to handle or materially different from the agreed description, the collection route, price or timing may need to change. Any additional handling, transport, treatment or rejection costs will be discussed in line with the agreed terms.

Where relevant to the agreed service and the parties' roles, we can coordinate or provide the records required for the movement. The exact responsibility for waste description, classification, transfer documentation and official reporting remains with the relevant legal parties and is confirmed in the service schedule.

A Waste Transfer Note records a waste transfer; it does not by itself guarantee a BREEAM credit, certification outcome or environmental claim.

Hazardous waste requires additional controls and documentation. We don't assume a hazardous-waste route is available unless it has been specifically assessed, agreed and supported by the appropriate authorised parties and records.

We are an upper-tier waste carrier, broker and dealer, registration CBDU575637 (Environment Agency public register, checked 29 September 2026; expires 19 March 2028). We are not a recycling facility. For Site Material Recovery we normally act as broker and are paid a commission. Your quotation confirms our role, the carrier and the receiving site for each job.

We can help source recycled PVC, HDPE, LDPE, PP, copper, aluminium and other agreed materials, subject to buyer specification, available supply, quality requirements, logistics and commercial terms.

We normally act as broker and are paid a commission, with the buyer paying the site or paying us a commission. We do not buy or sell copper or aluminium as principal until we hold a scrap metal dealer licence. We pay and take payment by bank transfer only. Our role is confirmed in writing for each transaction.

We begin with your specification — polymer or alloy, grade and form, colour, purity and contamination tolerance, moisture or processing requirements, test requirements, required documentation, sample requirements, volume and delivery schedule, and acceptance process. We then identify potential supply routes and coordinate available samples, documentation and shipment/batch information.

Yes. A sample-first qualification route is often the best starting point. You provide the specification and acceptance criteria; we coordinate potential supply, sample logistics and available supporting information. A larger supply conversation follows only if the sample and commercial terms are suitable.

We don't use those terms unless the relevant claim is supported by appropriate independent certification or a documented verification process. We can organise available supplier declarations, technical data sheets, test results, batch references and traceability records, but the buyer remains responsible for its own technical approval and acceptance decision.

No. Recycled-content and carbon claims depend on the specific product, batch, source documentation, methodology and supply route. We identify available evidence and clearly record assumptions or gaps. Claims should be used only where supported by the agreed documentation and review process.

The acceptance, rejection, title, risk, inspection and return process is agreed before an order is placed. Buyers should confirm their technical specification and acceptance process in writing. The relevant supply or sourcing agreement sets out responsibilities for rejected, contaminated or non-conforming material.

It stays waste until the permitted reprocessor meets the end-of-waste rules for that stream. For aluminium and copper that means a statement of conformity for each consignment; for PVC it means the plastics Quality Protocol. We supply it to you as a product only once we hold that evidence, the reprocessor's permit number and the grade met.

Everything starts from the load record. On the Site Record plan, every load we control is recorded at the point it leaves your site, checked by a named person, and gathered into one evidence pack a month for your client, your BREEAM assessor and your Scope 3 reporting.

Before that, one-off reviews can help contractors who have no system yet. Scope and price are agreed in writing first.

No. Unless separately agreed with an appropriately qualified provider, our ESG evidence services are not a statutory audit, independent assurance opinion, legal opinion or certification service. We support evidence preparation, organisation, data quality and project reporting workflows.

No. We don't guarantee BREEAM credits, ratings or certification outcomes. The appointed BREEAM assessor, project team and relevant scheme requirements determine what evidence is acceptable and whether credits are achieved.

A fixed-scope review of the records, data sources, assumptions and missing information for a site, project or reporting boundary. It identifies what is available, what is missing, who owns the next action and how to improve evidence quality.

On the Site Record plan, the pack arrives in the first working week of each month. It holds every accepted load record for your site, tonnes by stream, destinations and permit numbers, and WTN references, laid out for your client or BREEAM assessor and for your Scope 3 reporting. The number of sites and collections covered is set in your plan. It is evidence preparation and organisation, not certification, an audit or independent assurance.

The Site Record plan starts at £500 + VAT a site a month, with a three-month minimum and one month's notice, plus a £750 + VAT setup fee per contractor, which we may waive or reduce in writing. The Paid Commercial Waste Review is £750 + VAT per site, a fixed fee agreed in writing before we start. Brokerage and sourcing after a review are separate written offers, priced per offer. Other one-off reviews and pilots are priced and agreed in writing before work begins. Collection fees apply only where a load cannot pay its own haulage. Anything outside the agreed scope is quoted before work begins.

A controlled evidence-capture and review workflow, in development (TARGET Q3 2027). Its first job is inside URI: on our own loads it reads weighbridge tickets and waste transfer notes, extracts the fields and screens them for human review, and a named reviewer checks every field before a load record is accepted. The product built on that evidence will request supplier documents earlier, organise them against a project checklist and route uncertain items to human review.

• A project and trade package are configured
• A supplier receives a request for agreed evidence
• The supplier uploads documents through a controlled link
• The original document is retained and selected fields are extracted
• The workflow checks for missing, inconsistent or low-confidence information
• A human reviewer checks exceptions and records the decision
• A structured evidence register and source-linked project pack are produced

The initial workflow is designed around Environmental Product Declarations, product technical data sheets and declarations, delivery notes, recycled-content declarations, transport records, Waste Transfer Notes, weight tickets, and treatment/destination information. The exact document types and fields are agreed for each pilot or service scope.

No. It can support extraction, completeness checks, consistency checks and exception routing. Reading information from a document is not the same as confirming that the document is authentic, current, applicable to a specific product/batch or acceptable for a particular scheme.

In the pilot phase, human review is required before evidence is treated as accepted for the project pack.

A "clear," "complete" or similar status means the record has passed the configured completeness and consistency checks and, during the controlled pilot, has received the required human review.

It does not mean certification, independent assurance, legal approval, BREEAM approval, guaranteed compliance or guaranteed document authenticity.

No. It supports evidence preparation and workflow management. Final assessment and acceptance remain with the appointed assessor, project team and other competent professionals.

Not in the initial pilot. The initial workflow flags evidence gaps and routes them for action. Any procurement decision remains with the client's authorised team.

The Gatekeeper is in development, TARGET Q3 2027. Three founding pilot places open in Q2 2027. Contact us to discuss whether your project could be suitable for an evidence-gap review or a pilot.

A controlled pilot may include one agreed site/project, one trade package, an evidence checklist, supplier requests, document intake, a structured evidence register, human-reviewed exceptions, regular check-ins and a source-linked handover pack.

Founding pilots (three places, Q2 2027) are priced and agreed in writing before they start. Orders are supplied by manual or bulk upload; no system connection is needed. A named reviewer confirms before any hold clears.

Pilot scope, document limits, supplier limits, data handling, review responsibilities and commercial terms are agreed before live data is processed.

We use personal and business information to respond to enquiries, provide requested services, manage contracts, maintain operational records and meet legal obligations. See our Privacy Notice for more detail.

Not without explicit written agreement. Documents are used only to provide the agreed service, subject to the relevant contract, privacy notice and data-processing terms.

Access is limited to the people and service providers needed to deliver the agreed service. For Gatekeeper workflows, access is restricted by client, project and role. Supplier upload links are scoped, time-limited and revocable.

Retention depends on the type of record, legal obligations, contractual requirements, project/assessment needs, disputes and audit requirements. Waste Transfer Notes are normally retained for at least two years and hazardous-waste consignment notes for at least three years. We review retention periods rather than automatically deleting records as soon as a minimum period ends.

Email support@upgraderecycleinnovations.com with "DSAR" or "Data Rights Request" in the subject line. We may request proportionate identity information before disclosing, correcting or deleting personal data. See our Data Rights page for the full process.

Send us the site/project location, material stream or service requirement, estimated volume, timing and relevant contact details. For feedstock sourcing, include your specification and sample/acceptance requirements where possible.

Usually there is no need. Most contractors start by sending the job request on our website with a few photos, and we price it from the desk within one working day. If the photos can't answer something (mixed or possibly hazardous material, unclear access, or a large first site), we offer a 15-minute site visit, at no charge within Greater Manchester.

Our initial operational focus is Greater Manchester and the North West. We may support wider UK opportunities through agreed partners, depending on material stream, logistics, service scope and compliance requirements.

International feedstock sourcing or service support may be considered on a transaction-by-transaction basis. It requires additional review of logistics, customs, commercial terms, quality documentation, data protection and local regulatory requirements.

No. Loads we book arrive with their record done: waste code, carrier and registration, origin, photos and the WTN reference, which helps your own Digital Waste Tracking report. We ask for fair terms on clean, well-documented loads, such as price per tonne, tipping times or fewer rejections. We never report to Defra on your behalf.

We aim to respond to new enquiries within one working day. Collection, sourcing, evidence and Gatekeeper requirements are then assessed based on the information provided and the agreed service scope.

Receiving sites in England and Wales report from 1 October 2026, and in Northern Ireland and Scotland from 1 January 2027. Carriers, brokers and dealers follow, with reporting mandatory from October 2027. Each business reports its own loads; we never report on a client's or receiving site's behalf. On the Site Record plan we make sure each load's record is right before it leaves, so the receiving site has the fields its report needs. For contractors, our Digital Waste Tracking readiness review maps what leaves your site now and what the receiving site will need from you. Receiving sites usually get their reporting connection and support from their weighbridge software supplier, so we don't sell reviews to yards. We issue our own waste transfer notes digitally through LoadSnap, which is on Defra's list of compatible software.

Send the job request on our website with a few photos. Within two working days of our desk check we send a one-page offer and the plan terms. If you want to see the gaps first, ask for the Digital Waste Tracking readiness review or the Evidence Gap Baseline. Manufacturers start with a sourcing conversation and a sample; anyone interested in The Gatekeeper can ask about the Q2 2027 founding pilots.