The responsibilities under state law in the area of waste management are governed by the Thuringian Implementation Act for the Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management Act.

According to this law, the counties and independent cities are, with a few exceptions, responsible as supervisory authorities for waste management issues. Special responsibilities are assigned to the State Office for Agriculture and Rural Areas (enforcement of the Sewage Sludge Ordinance and, in part, the Biowaste Ordinance).

The Thuringian State Office for the Environment, Mining and Nature Conservation is responsible not only for central waste management tasks, such as enforcement of the Ordinance on Waste Recovery and Disposal Records or the Waste Shipment Act, but also in particular for monitoring tasks in which the counties and independent cities could themselves be affected, e.g. through their activities as public waste management authorities.