The article presents an economic analysis of the state of municipal waste generation, utilization and recycling in the countries of the European Union and the Russian Federation. As a basis for the analysis, we used data on the 20 most representative countries that make a significant contribution to the formation of the main macroeconomic indicators of the EU. The results of the implementation of the EU environmental policy, the degree of reflection on the volume of trade in secondary raw materials, private investment in this sector, employment in the processing and recycling sectors, etc. are considered. In addition, a correlation analysis was carried out, which allowed us to determine the degree of dependence of waste disposal and recycling on various indicators, to identify the most significant of them and the main factor affecting the effectiveness of the country's environmental policy.