This interdisciplinary collection explores waste not as something peripheral or disposable, but as a powerful force shaping cultures, environments, and everyday life. Bringing together twenty-two concepts and case studies from around the world, contributors examine topics ranging from textile waste in West Africa, e-waste in China, and cultures of reuse in India to nuclear legacies in Japan and sacrifice zones in the United States. Spanning the humanities, social sciences, environmental engineering, and the arts, the volume reveals how waste is deeply entangled with human and more-than-human worlds, offering fresh insights into the ecological and political complexities of contemporary and historical life.