awasting

Awasting is the act or phenomenon of wasting resources, including time, money, energy, or materials, often as a result of inefficiency, misallocation, or insufficient incentives. In discussions of economics, environmental policy, and organizational management, awasting describes outcomes where resources could be used more effectively but are not.

Common contexts include energy use in buildings (heating or cooling that exceeds need, standby power), industrial production (excess scrap, overmanufacture, idle capacity), water use (leakage, overuse), food and material waste, and time management in workplaces or public programs.

Causes range from information gaps and mispricing to systematic design flaws, bureaucratic inertia, short-term planning horizons, and behavioral factors. Indicators include high energy intensity without corresponding output, high rates of stock obsolescence, or steadily rising costs without proportional gains.

Mitigation typically involves improving efficiency standards, better measurement and auditing, incentivizing reuse and recycling, optimizing processes (lean management), and behavioral interventions to reduce idle time. Lifecycle assessment and regular waste audits are common tools for identifying awasting.

See also: Waste, Resource efficiency, Lean manufacturing, Demand management, Environmental policy.