As one of the essential public services that supports our society in the 21st century, waste management is a basic human need and a critical infrastructure, especially in urban areas. Waste management is a cross-cutting issue that affects many aspects of society and the economy, closely linked to many other global challenges, including health, climate change, poverty reduction, food and resource security, and sustainable production and consumption. Waste management is a key component of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and is considered as an entry point for achieving a range of SDGs.

In order to summarize the excellent experience in municipal solid waste (MSW) management and share with other cities, in December 2023, UN-Habitat China Office developed the China Waste Wise Cities Good Practices (Series I), which selected three representative cities/urban districts in China, including Suzhou, Ningbo and Yantian District of Shenzhen City, and put forward the following key lessons in MSW management in China through the case studies. The main lessons learned from the case studies are: (1) clear strategic planning and target aligning with the “Five-Year Plan” are the foundation of the MSW management sector; (2) use market-based mechanisms to leverage capital investment to promote rapid development of this sector; (3) strict environmental emission standards, open and transparent data disclosure, and continuous communication with the public support the shift from “neighbour avoidance” to “neighbour benefits”; (4) People-oriented digital governance became the new business card of China’s MSW management, and; (5)”Waste classification is the touchstone of social civilization” is an important experience provided by China’s waste management practices.

On this basis, China Waste Wise Cities Good Practices (Series II) continues to select another three representative cities/urban districts in China, namely Chaoyang District in Beijing Municipality, Xuzhou City in Jiangsu Province, and Fuzhou City in Fujian Province. This series of good practices summarizes the cases from different angles of sustainable development, which focus on the establishment of sustainable lifestyles, the changing theories of waste management (zero carbon industrial parks and zero waste cities), and the integration of ecological value with commercial areas development model. This report concludes Chinese cities waste management experiences from the perspective of global environmental governance and challenges, expecting to provide more reference to the international society.