Buy only what is needed and avoid goods that are over-packaged, unnecessarily single-use or have a short lifespan; use refill and deposit return schemes where they exist.

Give items a second life before throwing them away and recycle what you can. Try composting food scraps and garden waste to reduce what ends up in the bin.

Segregate unavoidable waste into three streams for its economical and sustainable management: Food and garden waste, Dry and clean recyclables, Residual waste (what's left).

Support local businesses that offer goods and services in a way that promotes zero waste and a circular economy.

Participate in local community clean-ups and urban composting programs, helping cities reduce pressure on landfills and improve urban resilience.

Lead sustainability efforts by forming a club to reduce waste, conducting audits, raising awareness through campaigns, composting food waste, and encouraging teachers to include zero waste and circular economy topics in lessons.

Take action by organizing community cleanups, using refillable bottles and reusable bags, and properly separating food waste and recyclables to reduce pollution and promote sustainability.

Create awareness campaigns and deliver training and knowledge sharing activities to change behaviours.

At all times seek opportunities to move waste management practices up the waste hierarchy; use expertise about material resources to support waste reduction, resource efficiency and circular economy models.

Help governments and municipalities to design systems that are locally appropriate, fit-for-purpose and future-proofed, ensuring they do not lock-in linear resource use and can be adapted to meet the changing needs of society.

The private sector plays a vital role in waste prevention. Businesses should take responsibility for their waste generation and respond to society's demands to reduce the resource-use footprint of their activities.

Pursue models that achieve financial savings through resource efficiency, such as extended producer responsibility schemes, refill and deposit-return schemes sign for durability, longevity, and recyclability.

Support government efforts to regulate waste generation, recognizing that regulation creates a level playing field and provides certainty. Favor regulation over voluntary targets, which often lead to uncertainty, and avoid greenwashing.

Identify opportunities to drive resource efficiency within the community, raise awareness through positive and targeted messaging, and make it easy for residents and businesses to reduce waste and participate in segregation programs.

Encourage households to reduce and manage waste at home — for instance, through composting — to help lower the cost of municipal waste management.

Involve local residents in waste management planning and provide meaningful opportunities for feedback. Ensure systems are co-designed with service users to promote ownership, accountability, and lasting behaviour change.

Recognize the specific expertise of both women and the informal sector in advancing waste reduction, and involve them in designing waste management services.

Cooperate across municipalities to share and replicate good practices, achieving economies of scale in service delivery.

Behaviour change takes time. Keep motivating residents and continue step by step toward long-term waste reduction and segregation goals.

Enact laws that uphold the waste hierarchy and promote waste reduction and circular economy initiatives at both national and sub-national levels. Introduce incentives for zero waste service delivery models and use modulated fees within producer responsibility schemes to encourage waste prevention.

Ensure waste management and circular economy policies are interconnected to prioritize waste reduction and maximize the value of secondary resources.

Use national legislation to safeguard the rights of informal waste workers and ensure their participation in developing inclusive waste management services.

Legislate for universal access to waste management services and provide municipalities with guidance on delivering them efficiently and economically. Encourage citizens to reduce, reuse, and recycle at home.

Offer technical guidance to municipalities in developing waste management systems that reflect local needs, include women and informal workers, and strengthen community ownership.

Strengthen capacity in waste management and circular economy practices. Foster knowledge exchange with countries in similar contexts and ensure that national strategies and technologies are fit-for-purpose — aligned with local economic, geographic, and cultural realities — while avoiding those that reinforce linear resource use.

Use data to build strong evidence and business cases for waste management. Integrate waste reduction into national climate commitments (NDCs), leverage opportunities for climate finance, and attract private sector investment in circular design, waste services and infrastructure.

Recognize that most waste originates from business activity. Use public procurement, tax incentives, and policy tools to support SMEs and companies that operate according to zero waste and circular economy principles.

Recognize the importance of embedding circular economy strategies, improved waste management and zero-waste approaches into funding frameworks and development initiatives.

Identify proven solutions and support their replication and expansion across cities, countries, and regions.

Promote transparency by sharing both successes and challenges, ensuring that effective approaches are scaled up while past mistakes are not repeated. When evaluating proposals, consider the proven track record of solutions to ensure the most impactful initiatives receive support.

Require governments, municipalities, and partners to collect gender-disaggregated data on waste-related experiences and impacts to inform more equitable and effective policies and interventions.