Egypt’s Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) system faces critical challenges, including rising volumes, fragmented governance, and low recovery rates. To generate insights for reform, this study benchmarks four international city models using a five-lens framework covering policy, service design, infrastructure, data, and social systems. Each case demonstrates how smart technologies and governance models drive recovery. Findings are projected to Egypt, with a focus on Alexandria, a coastal city that faces both seasonal surges and structural inefficiencies. A phased traffic-light strategy is proposed sequencing; near-term measures (segregation pilots, GIS-based routing, and awareness campaigns), medium-term reforms (IoT monitoring, extended producer responsibility, and recovery capacity), and long-term investments (fleet electrification and pneumatic conveyance). Beside benchmarking, the paper introduces the Circular Economy–Embedded Garbage Truck Vehicle Routing (CE-GTVR) framework as a conceptual step toward Circular Economy 2.0. CE-GTVR integrates segregation quality, recovery potential, and emissions per ton into routing logic, aligned with Egypt’s Law 202/2020 and Vision 2030. While only conceptually validated, the framework outlines future pathways for empirical testing. By situating Egypt’s transition within global and regional discourse, this study contributes a roadmap that is actionable, phased, and transferable to Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Middle East and North Africa (MENA) contexts.