Waste is being generated continuously. Every household, company, factory, part of society and country produces certain amount of waste, thus arising several issues – what should be done to reduce the generated waste, what to do with the generated waste, how to recycle it and what is necessary to do that effectively. This leads to necessity of certain activities, procedures and systems to help reduce waste and promote environmentally friendly ways to manage waste as well as reduce harmful chemicals in daily life and nature. The research investigates reasons of waste generation, history and classification of it in the 21st century. Furthermore, waste management opportunities and importance are discussed in terms and context of sustainable economic development. In order to obtain a comprehensive overview of current issues in the waste management sector, the authors compile statistical data on waste generation trends in Latvia and the European Union from 2015 to 2020 including analysis of the interaction of various internal and external factors affecting it. Possible problems are identified by evaluating the implementation procedure of the Latvian waste management system and its legal framework, as well as analysing of National Waste Management Plan 2021-2028. Nowadays the circular economy plays an important role because it focuses on saving resources, reducing the environmental pollution and ensuring the reuse of products and materials. The circular economy is the opposite of traditional understanding of so-called “linear economy”, which can be characterized as a “take-make-dispose” model. Unfortunately, transition to the circular economy is at its early application stage and does not provide expected effects to waste reduction and waste management in practice. This waste-free approach, which has already been chosen by more than 400 European cities, becomes more discussed.