ResumenEl presente estudio tiene como finalidad analizar el desarrollo sostenible y los elementos de la politica publica para la gestion integral de residuos solidos en el Distrito Barranquilla – Colombia. El mismo se realizo bajo el paradigma socio-critico sustentado en el metodo de la totalidad concreta, configurandose de esta forma como documental y descriptivo, teniendo como fuentes la revision literaria de diferentes publicaciones que incluyen libros, resenas y articulos de opinion en periodicos, boletines, informes, documentos en linea, articulos publicados en revistas cientificas, entre otros. Como resultados se obtuvo que en Colombia existe todo un conjunto de elementos definidos que consideran el desarrollo sostenible y la politica publica para la gestion integral de residuos solidos, sin embargo, existen brechas entre lo establecido con lo puesto en practica sobre todo en lo que respecta al aprovechamiento, reciclaje, reutilizacion y reduccion donde prevalezca la separacion de la fuente, implementacion del modelo circular en vez del lineal con disposicion final; esto obedece a un aspecto de orden economico cultural, social, educativo y ambiental en el cual no se ha vinculado apropiadamente a la poblacion y las empresas asi como a las instituciones responsables del manejo de los mismos.AbstractThe purpose of this study is to analyze sustainable development and the elements of public policy for the integral management of solid waste in the Barranquilla District - Colombia. It was carried out under the socio-critical paradigm based on the method of concrete totality, thus configuring itself as documentary and descriptive, having as sources the literary review of different publications that include books, reviews and opinion articles in newspapers, newsletters, reports, online documents, articles published in scientific journals, among others. As a result, it was obtained that in Colombia there is a whole set of defined elements that consider sustainable development and public policy for the integral management of solid waste, however, there are gaps between what is established with what has been put into practice, especially as regards to the use, recycling, reuse and reduction where the separation of the source prevails, implementation of the circular model instead of the linear one with final disposition; This is due to an aspect of cultural, social, educational and environmental economic order in which it has not been properly linked to the population and businesses as well as to the institutions responsible for managing them.