wastefulness

Wastefulness is a habit of using things carelessly or recklessly. To combat wastefulness in the cafeteria, your environmental club might develop a proposal for composting uneaten food and reducing the use of paper napkins.

Wastefulness takes many forms, from leaving the sink on while you slowly brush your teeth (which wastes water) to lounging for hours in front of a mindless TV show you don't even enjoy (which wastes your valuable time). There's also the wastefulness of a company overpaying for office supplies, or the extravagant wastefulness of a lavish party with ice sculptures, chocolate fountains, and piles of expensive food.

Definitions of wastefulness

1. noun

   the trait of wasting resources
   “the wastefulness of missed opportunities”

   synonyms: thriftlessness, waste

   type of:

   improvidence, shortsightedness

   a lack of prudence and care by someone in the management of resources
2. noun

   useless or profitless activity; using or expending or consuming thoughtlessly or carelessly
   synonyms: dissipation, waste

   types:

   boondoggle

   work of little or no value done merely to look busy

   waste of effort, waste of energy

   a useless effort

   waste of material

   a useless consumption of material

   waste of money

   money spent for inadequate return

   waste of time

   the devotion of time to a useless activity

   extravagance, high life, highlife, lavishness, prodigality

   excessive spending

   squandering

   spending resources lavishly and wastefully

   squandermania

   prodigious squandering (usually by a government)

   type of:

   activity

   any specific behavior