Sustainable waste management is a central theme of circular economy, which has received global attention due to dealing with the transition from the linear consumption model to a circular economy perspective by increasing resource efficiency and harmonizing the relationship between society, environment, and economy. Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) are known as university cities assignable to their size and daily flow of people. They have an essential role in innovation and knowledge diffusion, acting as an agent of change in society. Moreover, they have a critical role in sustainable development because they prepare professionals not only for the market but also for society as citizens. One of the key factors that HEIs should use to their advantage is the potential for academic community engage themselves and provide improvement through teaching, research and outreach to make the campus as living laboratory to building the culture of sustainability. Therefore, this research aims at analyzing waste management in HEI, by a bibliometric and content analysis, using the Systematic Search Flow, as well as verify the most applied waste management practices in HEIs and lastly suggest drivers for the adoption of good practices.