absolute, complete, total, utter
The whole thing has been a complete waste of time.

big, colossal, enormous, great, huge, tremendous
awful, criminal, senseless, shocking, terrible
a criminal waste of public money

needless, pointless, unnecessary, useless
tragic
a tragic waste of human life

expensive
conspicuous

go to
If nobody comes all this food will go to waste.

cause
avoid
Try to avoid unnecessary waste.

cut, cut down on, reduce
minimize

waste of
a waste of energy/resources

dangerous, harmful, hazardous, poisonous, toxic
a dump containing hazardous waste

high-level, low-level
recyclable (esp. BrE), recycled
agricultural, commercial, industrial
domestic, household, kitchen
All household waste should be disposed of in strong garbage bags.

clinical (BrE), hospital, infectious (esp. AmE), medical
nuclear, radioactive
chemical
plastic
electronic
the vast amounts of electronic waste being shipped to developing countries

green, organic
animal, fish, hog (AmE), livestock, poultry
bodily, body, human
factory, mining, slaughterhouse (esp. AmE)
new regulations on the feeding of slaughterhouse waste to cattle

garden (esp. BrE), plant, vegetable, wood, yard (AmE)
municipal
liquid, solid
energy, food
building (BrE), construction (AmE)
Three quarters of all construction waste was recycled.

create, generate, produce
Tonnes of waste are produced every year.

dispose of, dump, get rid of
More people are dumping waste illegally.

clean up, remove
the highly expensive task of cleaning up toxic waste

burn, incinerate
an incinerator for burning hospital waste

bury, store
process, treat
facilities for processing radioactive waste

convert into sth, recycle
technology to convert solid waste into renewable energy

deal with, handle, manage
the best solutions for managing waste

cut, cut down on, minimize, reduce
eliminate
export, import
Industrialized countries continue to export their waste.

contaminate sth, pollute sth
areas contaminated by industrial waste

collection
disposal, incineration
storage
processing, recycling (BrE), reprocessing (BrE), treatment
a waste processing plant

management
minimization, reduction
basket, bin (BrE), paper basket (esp. BrE)
dump, facility, repository (esp. AmE), site, tip (BrE)
The river was used for years as an industrial waste dump.

incinerator
pipe (esp. BrE)

desert, frozen, icy
the frozen wastes of Antarctica