Waste management is a major challenge for all countries of modern society, mostly because of a sudden increase of waste quantity, local budget constraints due to the high costs of waste management and lack of understanding of many factors that aff ect waste management. Increasing population and population density, rapid economic development, rapid urbanization and increasing social standards signifi cantly increase the production of waste in households. Local government units have to, in accordance with the existing legal norms and accepted guidelines, provide an environmental friendly and energy-efficient waste management system. Due to a lack of organizational and financial resources, the complexity and interdisciplinarity of problems and lack of awareness of population about the need to solve this problem, it is not easy to conduct this task. After analyzing the available literature from period of 2005-2012 on waste management projects in developing and developed countries, we conducted a research in 28 rural and urban local government units in Brod- Posavina County and analyzed factors that affect the waste management system. Organizational strengths and weaknesses are determined by SWOT analysis of the waste management system in Brod- Posavina County. Threats and opportunities for effective waste management are identified by analyzing the existing resources and opportunities. This article proofs that an effective waste management system is not based solely on technological solutions, but also on environmental, socio-cultural, legal, institutional and economic factors that allow the establishment of an efficient system. Trained staff , adequate infrastructure, the interest of local officials for the problems of waste management and effective financial support of the central government is the necessity of establishing a sustainable modern system.
