The increasing global waste crisis necessitates innovative and sustainable solutions that balance economic growth with environmental responsibility. This work highlights the concepts, economy, and evolution of waste management practices and their importance in the circular economy. The different waste-generating sources like municipal, industrial, hazardous, biomedical, e-waste, and agricultural waste are illustrated so as to indicate the major waste generation trends and challenges indicating its environmental and economic impacts. Waste management strategies including prevention, reduction, segregation, collection, recycling and resource recovery, landfilling, waste to energy (WTE), and sustainable disposal methods play a significant role in the circular economy, and the effect of each is demonstrated in the present study. Further, the application in the context of reverse logistics and circular supply chain frameworks is compared with the bio-economy study. This work further highlights the global waste management policies highlighting the function of government and stakeholders in implementing the circular economy.