Real waste is created when money is spent irrationally, which happens mostly when investments are motivated politically, not economically. It was a real plague in communist countries before the USSR collapse, but here's a few examples only from the previous Polish government (2015-2023): they keep pumping taxpayers' money to ineffective and dirty coal industry, they spent 1,6 bln PLN to build a new coal plant (later had to be demolished and turned into smaller gas plant), several billions on a oversized airport (after 8 years still on paper), another billions for a failed electric car project, 250 mln for state-owned factory of anti-COVID face masks. All these "investments" a private sector on a free market probably wouldn't spend a single PLN on.
Capitalist countries are in the world's top when it comes to green energy and environment-friendly technologies. That's possible because capitalism means technological progress, which gives us means to protect the environment. We wouldn't be on a current level of welfare without capitalism and industrial revolution. On the other hand, countries that prefer government planning to market like Russia and China are even less concerned about the environment (although in China it's slowly changing).