The new editorial “Current Developments in Waste Management” has just been published in the ÖWAV – Austrian Water and Waste Management Association. Authored by Anke Bockreis, Marion Huber-Humer, and Helmut Rechberger, it provides a comprehensive overview of the key trends currently shaping waste management and the circular economy.

The editorial highlights how regulatory instruments such as recycling quotas and recycled-content requirements influence markets, innovation, and environmental performance, and why their specific design is crucial. It also introduces the main contributions of the special issue, including:

• economic modelling of recycled-content quotas for plastic packaging
• new standards to improve transparency and trust in recycled plastics
• circular business models and Safe-and-Sustainable-by-Design approaches
• second-life applications of electric vehicle batteries
• digital tools for resource-efficient infrastructure and civil engineering
• the role of biogenic waste in climate-neutral circular economies
• PFAS and pollutant risks in organic waste and sewage sludge
• future pathways for mineral wool recycling in light of the 2027 landfill ban

The editorial offers a valuable entry point into the scientific, technical, and policy-relevant debates that are currently shaping the transition toward a more circular and resource-efficient economy.