What a Waste 3.0: Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management Toward Circularity until 2050

9 April 2026

What a Waste 3.0 is the third edition of the World Bank Group’s What a Waste series, following the 2012 and 2018 publications. It updates and expands these earlier publications and provides a global reference dataset on municipal solid waste in the context of a transition toward circularity, drawing on the most recent publicly accessible data from 217 countries and economies and 262 cities. This edition consolidates data on waste generation, composition, collection, treatment, and disposal, and presents trends by region and income group. It also includes information on legislation, institutional arrangements, plastics management, private sector participation, employment, environmental impacts, and the costs and financing of municipal waste services.

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