Role of the Circular Economy Framework for Sustainable Waste Management and Climate Change Mitigation

Abstract

The rapid increase in global waste generation and its associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions pose increasing challenges to sustainable development and climate mitigation. Current estimations indicate that municipal solid waste generation will increase from approximately 2.3 billion tonnes in 2023 to nearly 3.8 billion tonnes by 2050, with waste-generated emissions, mainly methane, accounting for an important share of bi-temporal climate impact. This review examines the circular economy (CE) as a systemic framework for transforming waste management practices to reduce emissions while improving resource efficiency. Based on a structured narrative synthesis of more than 170 peer-reviewed studies and authoritative international reports, the paper evaluates CE-integrated strategies for waste prevention, recycling, recovery, and valorization. Reported estimates suggest that integrating CE principles into waste management systems could reduce proected GHG emissions growth by approximately 30–39% by 2050 through material efficiency gains, energy savings, landfill diversion, and organic waste valorization. Sector-specific considerations, including applications in high-emission industries such as the energy and chemical sectors, highlight both the mitigation potential and technical constraints of CE implementation. Overall, the review demonstrates that CE-based waste management can deliver quantifiable climate benefits when supported by appropriate policies, technologies, and context-specific system design.