Waste Matters: Navigating Health and Environmental Risks is a groundbreaking collection of scientific journal articles that delve into the multifaceted world of hazardous waste management and its profound implications on human health and the environment. This anthology offers a rigorous examination of various global perspectives, intricately unraveling the complexities of hazardous waste through comprehensive investigations and comparative analyses. Tracing the impact of living near hazardous waste sites, the studies present a detailed review of health outcomes, urging the need for robust public health policies. From the healthcare waste management practices in Addis Ababa to the legislative approaches in Russia and China, each piece sheds light on the immediate need for systemic improvements and international cooperation. Investigations into hazardous waste transportation reveal the importance of advanced technologies and regulatory frameworks for safe handling. A poignant exploration of medical waste highlights its vital relationship with healthcare quality, while the study on household waste in Brazil brings the issue to our doorstep, stressing public awareness. The struggles of Karachi's waste management and innovative medical waste treatment methodologies during the COVID-19 pandemic highlight both challenges and potential solutions. This collection is a clarion call for heightened global attentiveness and collective action, casting a thorough lens on hazardous waste's pervasive and often hidden dangers. Quality Research Publishing is dedicated to making knowledge more accessible to the general public by curating a topical compilation of the latest research on various subjects and providing plain language summaries. Each of the articles in this book is available individually and digitally without cost. However, we believe it is important for the contextualizing and sharing of educational and scientific work to curate this research in a way that is understandable and helpful to the average person seeking deeper knowledge of a particular subject. The research articles compiled for this book were published under a permissive Creative Commons license, are in the public domain, or have no copyright restrictions, permitting their use in this book. If you have questions about the licensing of any article, please visit qualityresearchpublishing.com.