Waste also known as rubbish, trash, refuse, garbage, junk, and litter is unwanted or useless materials.

Waste is directly linked to human development both technological and social. The compositions of different wastes have varied over time and location, with industrial development and innovation being directly linked to waste materials, examples include plastics, nuclear waste. Some waste components have economic value and can be recycled once correctly recovered. Waste can also be understood as a subjective concept because items that some people discard may have value to others. It is widely recognized that waste materials can be a valuable resource, whilst there is debate as to how this value is best realized.

Wastes are materials that are not prime products (that is products produced for the market) for which we have no further use in terms of purposes of production, transformation or consumption, and of which one wants to dispose. Wastes may be generated during the extraction of raw materials, the processing of raw materials into intermediate and final products, the consumption of final products, and other human activities.

Once a substance or object has become waste, it will remain waste until it has been fully recovered for recycling. Definitions: Non-wanted things created, not intended, or not avoided, with no purpose. Things that were given a finite purpose thus destined to become useless after fulfilling it. Things with well-defined purpose, but their performance ceased being acceptable. Things with well-defined purpose, and acceptable performance, but their users failed to use them for the intended purpose.

There are many different waste-types: Municipal Waste includes household waste, Commercial waste, Demolition waste Hazardous waste includes Industrial waste Bio-medical waste includes clinical waste Special hazardous waste includes radioactive waste, explosives waste, E-waste

Waste attracts insects which harbour parasites, yellow fever, worms, the plague and other conditions for humans. Exposure to hazardous wastes, particularly when they are burned, can cause various other diseases including cancers. On continous level in India, several scrap metal dealers become hospitalized due to radiation exposure at Delhi. Some of them loose their life due to multiple organ failure and become critically ill. Waste can contaminate surface water, groundwater, soil, and air which causes more problems for humans, other species, and ecosystems.

Industrial production of various materials or products, waste treatment and waste disposal produces significant green house gas emissions, notably methane, which are contributing significantly to global climate change.

Edward Burtynski, Shipbreaking # 31, Chittagong, Bangladesh, 2001

Sophie Gerrard, E-waste "cooking" in acid, Seelampur, Delhi, India from the series E-Waste

Derek Mossop, Landscapes in Transition, 2010

Julian Stallabrass, Thrown Down, 2010

Keith Arnatt, 'Pictures from a Rubbish Tip, 1988-89

Sze Tsung Leong, Fengdu I, Chongqing Municipality from the series History Images, 2002

Robert Polidori, New Orleans after the Flood, 2005

David Maisel, Library of Dust, 2008

Waste management is the collection, transport, processing or disposal, managing and monitoring of waste materials. The term usually relates to materials produced by human The management of wastes treats all materials as a single class, whether solid, liquid, gaseous or radioactive substances, and tried to reduce the harmful environmental impacts of each through different methods.Waste management practices differ for developed and developing nations, for urban and rural areas, and for residential and industrial producers. Management for non-hazardous waste residential and institutional waste in metropolitan areas of (developed countries) is usually the responsibility of local government authorities, while management for non-hazardous commercial and industrial waste is usually the responsibility of the generator (developed countries).

A waste picker is a person who salvages reusable or recyclable materials thrown away by others to sell or for personal consumption. There are millions of waste pickers worldwide, predominately in developing countries. Over the past half-century, waste picking has expanded vastly in the developing world due to urbanization. In many cities, they provide the only solid waste collection service.Yet they face many hardships, including stigma, exploitation by middlemen, and hazardous working and living conditions.

Pieter Hugo, Permanent Error, 2010

Pieter Hugo, Permanent Error, 2010

Recycling is processing used materials (waste) into new products to prevent waste of potentially useful materials, reduce the consumption of fresh raw materials, reduce energy usage, reduce air pollution (from incineration) and water pollution (from landfilling) by reducing the need for "conventional" waste disposal, and lower greenhouse gas emissions as compared to virgin production.

Melissa Moore, untitled, 2010

Anne Hardy, Lumber, 2003

John Stezaker, Mask XXXVI, 2007