Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Managementtoward Circularity until 2050 Ed Cook, Kremena Ionkova, Perinaz Bhada-Tata,Sonakshi Yadav, and Frank van Woerden What a Waste 3.0 Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Managementtoward Circularity until 2050 Scan the QR code to see all titles in this seriesScan the QR code to see all titles in this series. What a Waste 3.0 Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Managementtoward Circularity until 2050 Ed Cook, Kremena Ionkova, Perinaz Bhada-Tata,Sonakshi Yadav, and Frank van Woerden With Nikola Doychinov, Heather Nichole Hogan,Costas Velis, Tanzir Chowdhury, CarolineBradley, Silpa Kaza, Rieko Kubota, Ali Abedini,Shiko Hayashi, Nuru Lama, Gianluca Forlani, andKonstantinos Verganelakis © 2026 International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank 1818 H Street NW, Washington, DC 20433 Telephone: 202-473-1000; Internet:www.worldbank.org Some rights reserved 1 2 3 428 27 26 25 This work is a product of the staff of The World Bank with external contributions. The findings, interpretations,and conclusions expressed in this work do not necessarily reflect the views of The World Bank, its Board ofExecutive Directors, or the governments they represent. The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy,completeness, or currency of the data included in this work and does not assume responsibility for any errors,omissions, or discrepancies in the information, or liability with respect to the use of or failure to use the infor-mation, methods, processes, or conclusions set forth. The maps in this report were produced by the CartographyUnit of the World Bank Group. The boundaries, colors, denominations and any other information shown on thesemaps do not imply, on the part of the World Bank Group, any judgment on the legal status of any territory, orany endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries. The citation of works authored by others does not mean theWorld Bank endorses the views expressed by those authors or the content of their works. Nothing herein shall constitute or be construed or considered to be a limitation upon or waiver of the privilegesand immunities of The World Bank, all of which are specifically reserved. Rights and Permissions This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 IGO license (CC BY 3.0 IGO)http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo. Under the Creative Commons Attribution license, you are freeto copy, distribute, transmit, and adapt this work, including for commercial purposes, under the followingconditions: Attribution—Please cite the work as follows: Cook, Ed; Ionkova, Kremena; Bhada-Tata, Perinaz; Yadav, Sonakshi;van Woerden, Frank. 2026.What a Waste 3.0: Global Snapshot of Solid Waste Management Toward Circularity until2050. Urban Development Series. Washington, DC: World Bank. DOI: 10.1596/978-1-4648-2309-1. License: CreativeCommons Attribution CC BY 3.0 IGO. Translations—If you create a translation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with theattribution:This translation was not created by The World Bank and should not be considered an official World Banktranslation. The World Bank shall not be liable for any content or error in this translation. Adaptations—If you create an adaptation of this work, please add the following disclaimer along with theattribution:This is an adaptation of an original work by The World Bank. Views and opinions expressed in the adaptationare the sole responsibility of the author or authors of the adaptation and are not endorsed by The World Bank. Third-party content—The World Bank does not necessarily own each component of the content containedwithin the work. The World Bank therefore does not warrant that the use of any third-party-owned individualcomponent or part contained in the work will not infringe on the rights of those third parties. The risk of claimsresulting from such infringement rests solely with you. If you wish to re-use a component of the work, it is yourresponsibility to determine whether permission is needed for that re-use and to obtain permission from thecopyright owner. Examples of components can include, but are not limited to, tables, figures, or images. All queries on rights and licenses should be addressed to World Bank Publications, The World Bank, 1818 H StreetNW, Washington, DC 20433, USA; e-mail: pubrights@worldbank.org. ISBN (electronic): 978-1-4648-2309-1DOI: 10.1596/ 978-1-4648-2309-1 Cover image: Image generated with Adobe Firefly. Style reference: © Alamy/Kaliantye. Composition reference bySvenja Greenwood. Further permission required for reuse.Cover design: Svenja GreenwoodDesign: Svenja Greenwood and Masha ZolotarskyEdited by: Chitra Arcot Urban Development Series The Urban Development Series discusses the challenge of urbanization and what itwill mean for developing countries in the decades ahead. The series aims to delvesubstantively into a range of core issues related to urban development that policymakers and pract