ADJ

absolute, complete, total, utter
The whole thing has been a complete waste of time
colossal, great, tremendous
awful, criminal, senseless, shocking, terrible
a criminal waste of public money
needless, unnecessary, useless
tragic
a tragic waste of human life
expensive
conspicuous

VERB + WASTE

go to
If nobody comes all this food will go to waste
cause
avoid
Try to avoid unnecessary waste
cut down on, reduce
minimize

PREP

~ of
a waste of energy/resources

ADJ

dangerous, harmful, hazardous, poisonous, toxic
a dump containing hazardous waste
non-toxic
high-level, intermediate-level, low-level
recyclable
agricultural, commercial, industrial
domestic, household, kitchen
All household waste should be disposed of in strong garbage bags
clinical, hospital, medical
nuclear, radioactive
chemical
plastic
organic
animal, human
garden, plant
municipal
liquid, solid
food, energy

VERB + WASTE

produce
Tonnes of waste are produced every year
dispose of, dump, get rid of
More people are dumping waste illegally
clean up
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
recycle, reprocess
deal with, handle, manage
the best solutions for managing waste
cut down on, reduce
eliminate
export, import
Industrialized countries continue to export their waste

WASTE + VERB

contaminate sth, pollute sth
areas contaminated by industrial waste

WASTE + NOUN

collection
burial, disposal, incineration
storage
processing, recycling, reprocessing, treatment
a waste reprocessing plant
management
minimization, reduction
bin
dump, site, tip
The river was used for years as an industrial waste dump
outlet, pipe
imports
a ban on waste imports

ADJ

frozen, icy
the frozen wastes of Antarctica