Waste management includes everything from collection, sorting, and transportation to final treatment and disposal. It also involves activities like recycling and recovery.

Adopting sustainable ideas for cities concerning waste management can deliver substantial economic benefits. Some of these include reducing water and air pollution, cutting fuel costs, reducing the amount of land used for landfills, achieving zero-waste initiatives, and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions.

Sustainable waste management can provide a source of energy and create renewable resources. It can also create new jobs, especially when new waste-to-energy plants are built. Moreover, sustainable management of waste can reduce the cost of healthcare and make delivering healthcare more sustainable by reducing pollution, providing better locally grown produce, and preventing a wide range of diseases.

When communities work together to reduce and manage waste efficiently, they reap multiple benefits, including improving the financial health of local government agencies along with the economic prosperity of residents and their businesses.

Residents and local businesses generate savings by reducing their expenses on energy, gas, water, electricity and waste disposal. Communities with well-organized waste management systems can attract domestic and international businesses and increase the migration of middle- and high-income earners.