The “zero waste city” strategy is a visionary initiative to address the solid waste problem by minimizing landfill use and maximizing resource utilization. However, few studies have offered insights into the regional differences and evolution trends of the performance of zero waste in China at the city level. To address this gap, the present study assesses China’s zero waste performance using entropy weight TOPSIS. Its regional differences and evolution trends are analyzed by employing the Dagum Gini coefficient, kernel density estimation, and spatial Markov chains. The results indicate that China’s zero waste performance shows an upward trend. The overall regional difference in zero waste performance is narrowing and mainly derives from the inter-regional difference. The evolutionary characteristics of zero waste performance vary in each region. The polarization of zero waste performance in the eastern region diminishes, while the other three regions show an obvious aggravation of the polarization. China’s zero waste performance presents a significant positive spatial correlation. It is also characterized by spatial agglomeration and club convergence. These findings offer a theoretical foundation for promoting the construction of a zero waste city in China and provide a valuable reference for waste management in other developing countries.