This study examines the conditions, opportunities and limitations regarding teaching in thesubject sustainable development with a focus on waste management and compares threecountries; Senegal, El Salvador and Sweden. Agenda 2030 and the 17 goals for achieving asustainable development and fair future and the focus of goal number four; education for all,is the foundation for our study. Sweden has an advanced waste management system thatcontributes to a circular economy. However, many low developing countries, includingSenegal and El Salvador, are facing significant challenges regarding waste management andespecially in handling plastic waste. This study explores teachers in Senegal’s and ElSalvador’s perspectives of implementing and teaching sustainable development with a focuson waste management in primary schools. It is based on three different research questions;thoughts on the importance of it, the limitations that exist, and the conditions that are present.The method used is data collection in the form of qualitative interviews with teachers fromSenegal and El Salvador, where the result is analyzed through two theories; a hermeneuticperspective and a Resource Dependency Theory. The results indicate that economic andstructural challenges limit the ability of teachers in both Senegal and El Salvador to developthe teaching of sustainable development and waste management effectively. In contrast,Sweden’s established system offers better conditions for teaching these subjects. However,the result shows a high awareness regarding the importance of teaching sustainabledevelopment among the teachers, but that they face a lot of limitations for improving theteaching and knowledge. The conclusion is that improvements in national waste managementpolicies and resource allocation are essential to enhance teaching in these countries.