Waste management systems must decide where waste is collected, how it is transported, where it is treated and under which rules, and operations research supplies the quantitative tools for these decisions. This study maps the published research at the point where optimization and waste policy meet. A Scopus search for “waste management”, “optimization” and “policy”, screened in four PRISMA 2020 stages, produced a final sample of 967 journal articles and reviews published from 2016 onwards. The records were examined through performance analysis, title-based thematic counts, keyword co-occurrence mapping, a thematic map and a multiple correspondence analysis, together with a reading of the 167 review papers in the sample. Output grew at a compound annual rate of 25.5% between 2016 and 2025, and almost three in five records were published from 2024 onwards. The literature is dispersed across 425 journals and is highly collaborative. Circular economy, sustainability and artificial intelligence form the dominant motor theme, while optimization of solid waste systems and waste-to-energy form two further well-developed themes. Titles on artificial intelligence and machine learning rose from 1.6% to 15.2% of output between 2016–2019 and 2024–2027. Collection and routing, the classic operations research problem in waste management, appear in only 3.7% of titles, and household, residential, citizen or consumer terms in 1.4%. The paper closes with a six-part agenda for future research.