While space in your scenario might be tight, with some planning, you can optimize your waste management and focus on building your glorious republic.

This guide focuses on a gradual upgrade path starting with a simple dumping ground and progressing towards more advanced waste processing facilities.

You'll need an area of 26 x 19 standard squares (roughly 1.5 times the size of a Technical University).
We'll start with a Dump with Claw Machine (small) for initial mixed waste collection.

• Hazardous waste from hospitals and clinics can be safely dumped initially.
  
• Biological waste will be burned for now (separate guide for livestock waste).

Reseach:

• Processing and disposal of waste -> Waste separation
  
• Energy from waste
  
• Aluminium recycling
  
• Steel recycling

is needed to complete this guide

Build a Dump with Claw Machine (small) for initial mixed waste collection and assign it to your technical services buildings.

Locate a suitable area outside your town near industry with enough space (26 x 19 squares).

Enable grid and magnet mode. Plan a straight road around 250m long and a 90° junction at one end (around 60m).

Place these buildings:

• Incinerator (small)
  
• Transfer for big waste containers (large)
  
• General separation plant (Road access directed to the bottom)

Pro Tip: Leave space for additional Dump (medium) facilities on the top of the setup. Don't connect them initially to each other. We'll utilize them later to speed up ash disintegration processing.

Why Separate Dumps? Separated dumps act as standard dump storage and won't be affected by the functionality to become extended storage after they are connected to the general separation plant. This allows later faster ash disintegration.

Option 1: Basic Incineration

• Create another 90° road on the left side of the general separation plant (~70m)
  
• Place a conveyor overpass 1to3 near the separation plant and connect them manually.
  
• Add a Dump (small) for bypassing the separation plant and direct burning.
  
• Delete part of the road to place the bus stop near the dump.
  
• Add the bus stop for workers.
  
• Connect the conveyor belt to the left road.
  
• Assign the General separation plant to manage mixed waste for your technical services.

more Details

It should look like this:


Option 2: Future-proof with Research Power or Heat

• Wait for the "[Energy from waste]" research to unlock Incinerator - Power Plant and Incinerator - Heating Plant.
  
• Move the big waste containers down two squares
  
• Create another 90° road on the left side of the general separation plant (~70m)
  
• Add a Dump (small) for bypassing the separation plant and direct burning.
  
• Place and connect the conveyor overpass 1to3 near the separation plant.
  
• Use the game mechanics to place a bus stop near the new dump.
  
• Connect the conveyor belt and the general separation plant to the road network.
  
• Assign the General separation plant for mixed waste.

more Details

It should look like this:

Start using your Incinerator! Add food walks to the bus stop.
You can now place the Gravel recycling plant and Truck aggregate loading (optional).


Recycling Expansion (Based on Research):

Place the Steel recycling plant and Aluminium recycling plant. Ensure food walks can access them.

Final Touches

Connect water, sewage, and power to your waste management area.

Congratulations! You've established a robust waste management system ready to handle most of your republic's waste needs.

If you start the game in realistic mode, you may decide to not have citizens in your republic, which mean you will not generate any waste. Once you get citizens, I assume that you have followed one of the others guides to place the trash containers well, so your technical services can pick up efficiently.

Till you have your first citizens, you should have one dumping place ready, I recommend using the dump with claw.

Normally, I expect a population of around 1.000 citizens to run your first City and operate one Party Headquarters. In the Party Headquarters, i recommend to research Logistic optimization -> Distribution office. During this time, I only let the technical offices dump the waste. As soon as I have the technical university ready, I start research of Processing and disposal of waste -> Waste separation. So within the first ~4.000 research Days I have access to the general processing plant and distribution centre.

The technical services should be able to fill the water substation and empty the sewage tank without pipe connection, as the first worker load I would go for a Bus with 6-8 workers which get split 50% general separation plant and 50% Incinerators. If you have gravel recycling already build, it can wait as the internal storages are full. Normally it will keep some time until you have coal or other heavy industries running.

So at the time you start the operation you need.

1 waste truck in a distribution centre how will empty the dump with claw into the general separation plant
1 water and 1 sewage tank truck in a technical service how can reach the waste industries area

Now make sure that the dump with claw is emptied before the internal storage of the general separation plant is full. Once it’s empty, you connect the additional medium dumps left and right to the dump with claw and use the waste truck to disposal the waste with ash from the general separation plant into the dump with claw you just emptied. The dump with ash will be split into these three dumps, which will speed up the ash disintegration process so that it will take a certain time until these three dumps are full.