Ask Bolt: Query Your Waste Data in Plain English

What Is Ask Bolt?

Ask Bolt is WasteBolt's conversational AI assistant — built on Claude by Anthropic — that has direct access to your last 18 months of waste movement data. Instead of building filters in a report, exporting to Excel, and writing formulas, you ask a question in plain English and get the answer immediately.

"How many tonnes did we collect from Smith Construction last quarter?"

"Which EWC codes are we moving the most of this year compared to last?"

"Are there any loads with unusual weights I should check?"

Ask Bolt reads your WTNs and dockets, runs the analysis, and replies in seconds. For waste businesses that currently rely on manual spreadsheet reconciliation to understand their own data, it is a significant time saver — and for businesses preparing for EA audits or customer reporting, it surfaces the right information immediately.

What Ask Bolt Can Answer

Ask Bolt has access to your full waste movement dataset — both WTNs and dockets — for the last 18 months. It can answer any question that involves counting, summing, grouping, or comparing that data.

Tonnage and load counts

• "What was our total waste volume last month?"
• "How many loads did we collect from Jones Builders this year?"
• "Which customer generated the most waste in Q1 2026?"
• "What's our total weight by EWC code for this quarter?"

Trend analysis

• "Which waste types are increasing month on month?"
• "Has our mixed C&D volume gone up or down compared to last year?"
• "Which customers have had fewer collections this quarter than last?"

Customer and product summaries

• "Give me a summary of all movements for ABC Skip Hire in May"
• "What waste types did Green Acres Farm produce in the last six months?"
• "Which carrier handled the most tonnage last quarter?"

Comparisons

• "Compare this quarter's volumes to the same quarter last year"
• "Which of our top five customers had the biggest change in waste volume?"

Compliance queries

• "Are there any WTNs missing signatures from the last 30 days?"
• "Show me all hazardous waste movements in the last six months"
• "Which loads don't have a recovery or disposal code?"

For a complete picture of your waste records, Ask Bolt works alongside the full WasteBolt reporting suite — use Ask Bolt for quick conversational queries and the report builder for structured filtered exports.

Anomaly Detection — What Ask Bolt Flags Automatically

One of Ask Bolt's most useful capabilities is proactive anomaly detection. When you ask questions about your data — or when you ask Ask Bolt to review a period — it automatically flags records that look incorrect.

Weight outliers Any load where the net weight is more than four times the average for that product and customer combination is flagged as a potential data entry error. A skip that usually comes in at 2 tonnes arriving at 18 tonnes would be flagged immediately.

Zero or negative net weight Records where the net weight is zero or negative are flagged. These typically indicate a data entry error — gross and tare weight entered incorrectly, or a weighbridge reading that did not capture correctly.

Missing customer names Records showing "Unknown" in the company name field are flagged. These are movements that were created without a producer being specified — a compliance gap.

Suspicious load counts Patterns that suggest duplicate entries — the same vehicle, same weight, same date appearing more than once — are highlighted for review.

Incorrect dates Records with implausible dates — future dates, dates before the business started, dates that do not match the expected collection pattern — are flagged.

This anomaly detection runs against your real data and surfaces genuine issues you might not otherwise find until an EA inspection or a customer query. Rather than waiting for a problem to surface externally, Ask Bolt helps you find and correct data quality issues proactively.

Bulk Export Actions

Ask Bolt does not just answer questions — it can trigger bulk operations directly from the chat interface. When the response to a query naturally calls for an export, Ask Bolt embeds action buttons in its reply.

Bulk WTN export "Download all WTNs for Smith Construction from last quarter" — Ask Bolt generates a ZIP file containing the individual PDFs for every matching note. Useful for customer reporting or audit preparation.

Monthly customer summary "Generate a summary report for all customers for May 2026" — Ask Bolt produces a formatted PDF report per customer showing total loads, total weight by waste type, and EWC codes. The format is clean enough to send directly to customers or attach to invoices.

Run a filtered report "Show me a report for mixed C&D waste collected in April" — Ask Bolt applies the filters to the report builder and generates a PDF with the stat summary, breakdown cards, and full data table.

These bulk actions save significant manual work — what would otherwise require filtering, exporting, and formatting in the report builder can be triggered conversationally in seconds.

The Quota System

Ask Bolt queries use a monthly credit system:

Standard allowance: 50 queries per user per calendar month, included with every paid plan. This resets automatically on the 1st of each month.

Seat users: Queries from seat users (drivers and team members) deduct from the admin's credit pool — so the 50-query monthly allowance covers your whole team.

Additional credits: Admins can purchase additional Bolt credits via the Bolt Credits Shop in WasteBolt settings if 50 queries per month is not enough for the volume of queries your team needs.

Usage display: Your current month usage and remaining credits are shown in the Ask Bolt page header — you always know where you stand before asking a question.

For most waste businesses — even those using Ask Bolt regularly — 50 queries per month is sufficient. Power users running frequent client reports or anomaly checks may want to consider additional credits.

Saved Prompts — Building a Query Library

Queries you use regularly can be saved as bookmarked prompts and recalled instantly from the Ask Bolt input. This is particularly useful for standardised reporting workflows — the same set of questions run each week or month.

Examples of prompts worth saving:

• "Show me total tonnes by customer for this month"
• "Flag any loads with unusual weights from the last 30 days"
• "How many loads did we complete this week compared to last week?"
• "List all movements with missing signatures"

Saved prompts are managed at the /saved-prompts page. You can rename, delete, or trigger any saved prompt directly from Ask Bolt in one tap.

For teams using Ask Bolt as a regular reporting tool, a library of five to ten saved prompts covers the majority of routine queries — turning a question-answering session into a one-tap reporting workflow.

Ask Bolt vs the Report Builder — When to Use Each

Both Ask Bolt and the WasteBolt report builder analyse your waste data. They serve different needs:

The practical answer for most users: use Ask Bolt for questions and investigations, use the report builder for formal exports and customer-facing documents.

Frequently Asked Questions

How far back does Ask Bolt's data go? Ask Bolt has access to your last 18 months of waste movement data — both WTNs and dockets. Older records are not included in Ask Bolt queries but remain accessible in your Compliance Hub and the report builder.

Can seat users (drivers) use Ask Bolt? Yes. Seat users can access Ask Bolt and their queries deduct from the admin's monthly credit pool. Seat users see only their own records — not the full team dataset that admins see.

Does Ask Bolt access my customer or financial data? No. Ask Bolt only accesses waste movement data — WTNs and dockets. It does not have access to subscription information, payment data, or personal data beyond what is stored in waste movement records.

Can Ask Bolt help me prepare for an EA inspection? Yes. Ask Bolt can help you identify gaps in your records — missing signatures, unusual weights, movements without EWC codes — before an inspection. Running a proactive data quality check via Ask Bolt before an audit is a practical preparation step.

What happens if Ask Bolt cannot answer my question? Ask Bolt will tell you clearly if a query is outside the scope of your available data or if the question requires information it does not have access to. It will not guess or fabricate data — if it cannot answer accurately, it says so.

Last updated: June 2026. Ask Bolt is available on all paid WasteBolt plans at /ask-bolt. Monthly quota resets on the 1st of each month.