International audience Rural areas of the new EU Member States face serious problems incompliance of EU regulation on waste management. Firstly, the share of ruralpopulation is higher and it has lower living standards and secondly, the wastecollection services are poorly-developed covering some rural regions. In thiscontext, open dumping is used as an appropriate waste disposal solution generatingcomplex pollution. This paper analyzes the disparities between Romanian countiesregarding the rural population access to waste collection services in 2008 whichreflects the geographical distribution of rural dumpsites in 2009. It examines on onehand , the role of waste management services to reduce illegal dumping and on theother hand, the dysfunctions of traditional waste management system from ruralareas and their implications on local environment.