The book delineates the scope of waste-related risks potentially encompassed by insurance coverage, proceeding from the premise that such assessment presupposes a legally precise definition of “waste”. The analysis is grounded primarily in EU law, given its decisive influence on Member States’ waste-management regimes. To demarcate waste from non-waste, the study contrasts waste with products, identifying the legal “end” of a product and clarifying the status of by-products; both by-products and waste are treated as residues, yet they entail distinct regulatory consequences. A further axis of inquiry concerns the relevance of waste classification to insurance analysis. Because environmental harmfulness varies across waste streams, particular attention is devoted to hazardous waste and the regulatory imperative of its effective management. The study examines waste management as the principal locus of waste risk, distinguishing legally significant operations and assessing how EU classifications shape the insurable domain, with indicative comparison to U.S. solutions. The chapter also conceptualises the relationship between waste risk and environmental risk, treating pollution—emissions producing specific adverse effects—as the materialisation of environmental risk. Environmental damage is analysed both as the manifestation of such risk and as the condition triggering liability of the perpetrator and, correlatively, the insurer; in this sense, environmental damage operationalises waste risk.