The Ministry of the Environment of the Slovak Republic (MoE SR) remembers this year the 10^th anniversary of the waste management in the independent Slovak Republic. Several important steps have been taken during this period in the field of legislation and technical issues of waste management. New economic instruments in waste management contributed to the increased interest of towns´ and villages´ inhabitants in this issue and thus also to the increase of environmental awareness. Adoption of the European legislation for waste management will be also in future one of main priorities within the association process to European structures.