Municipal solid waste in the face of the global environmental crisis: sustainability as an alternative for development

The aim of the present work is to analyze the socio-territorial impact of urban solid waste facing the global crisis, as well as to recognize the role of sustainability, as an alternative for the transformation of territories and economies. The work has been is structured in three parts. In the first step, a retrospective journey about the role of the solid waste in the transformation of territories has been made. In a second moment, the problematic dimension that the topic has reached in the world sphere is analyzed, as well as the challenges that it involves. Finally, the role of sustainability as an alternative to transform the globalized environmental crisis, and the challenges it represents for improvement of current social conditions is recognized. The background is to recognize that the solid urban waste integral management has a complex, integrated, and historical territorial nature, and to be approached, facing the current challenges, it is necessary to understand these binding features from sustainability.