go to waste

go to waste

To be unused or squandered. Take some of this food home with you so that it doesn't go to waste. All of our hard work will go to waste if the board rejects our proposal.
See also: go, waste
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

go to waste

[for something] to be wasted; to be unused (and therefore thrown away). Eat your potatoes! Don't let them go to waste. We shouldn't let all those nice herbs go to waste. Let's pick some before the first hard frost.
See also: go, waste
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

go to waste

Fail to be used or taken advantage of. For example, I hate to see such talent go to waste, or We bought so much food that some will be going to waste. [c. 1500]
See also: go, waste
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.

go/run to ˈwaste

not be used and therefore wasted: What a pity to see all that food go to waste!
See also: go, run, waste
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary
See also:
  • go/run to waste
  • waste
  • waste (someone)
  • lay waste to (something)
  • lay waste to something
  • play around with someone
  • lay (something) waste
  • lay something waste
  • lay waste
  • waste one's breath, to
References in classic literature
If by living thus reserved and austere, like a hermit in the woods, so long, it has acquired such wonderful purity, who would not regret that the comparatively impure waters of Flint's Pond should be mingled with it, or itself should ever go to waste its sweetness in the ocean wave?
He and his Scotch wife and his Scotch children, the only respectable inhabitants of Queen's Crawley, were forced to migrate, with their goods and their chattels, and left the stately comfortable gardens to go to waste, and the flower-beds to run to seed.
"I can't abide to see good victuals go to waste. If our children was at this table they'd clean it bare in five minutes."
A NEW initiative is aiming to ensure Middlesbrough's abundance of seasonal fruit and veg doesn't go to waste. Always have a few extra leeks, courgettes or bag of tomatoes from the allotment?
Alec Brown, head of community at Tesco, said: "At Tesco we believe no good food should go to waste that is why we set up our Community Food Connection scheme, which ensures our surplus food is put to good use in the local community.
"Maraming proyekto ang nasasayang dahil sa bawat pagpapalit ng administrasyon o namumuno, lalo kung hindi magkaalyado, ay naisasantabi na lang ang mga proyektong nasimulan na ng naunang administrasyon (There are a lot projects that go to waste after a new administration steps in especially if the proponent of the said project is not an ally)," 1P first nominee Rafa Alunan said.
I fail to understand why you would make new toilets and deliberately allow them to go to waste.
Community Food Connection enables 7,000 charities and community groups to pick up free food from Tesco, but many schooloperated groups take a break during the summer holidays, meaning food that would normally be donated could go to waste.
Terming them grave, Meli said his committee wanted to establish the extent to which the errors might hurt learning and ensure Sh7 billion books did not go to waste. He spoke at St Mathews ACK Church in his Tinderet constituency.
Their sacrifices will never go to waste. Pakistanis are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their Kashmiris brothers,' she added.
Tesco's head of community Alec Brown said: "We know that Community Food Connection is making a real difference to communities in Coventry by providing people in need with meals from food that would otherwise go to waste.
Tesco's head of community Alec Brown said: "We know that Community Food Connection is making a real difference to communities in Loughborough by providing people in need with meals from food that would otherwise go to waste.
On Saturday, an Asda spokesman said: "After making sure our customers got great value on their Christmas dinner we didn't want to see the final bags of veg in our Barry store go to waste and so took the decision to give them away.
A spokesperson forAsdasaid:"After making sure our customers got great value on theirChristmas dinner, we didn't want to see the final bags of veg in our Aintree store go to waste and so took the decision to give them away.