Apples, pears, etc. cut by half with girl anxious to avoid waste? (6)
I believe the answer is:
frugal
'anxious to avoid waste?' is the definition.
(frugal means thrifty or economical)
'apples pears etc cut by half with girl' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite understand how this works, but
'girl' could be 'gal' ('gal' can be a synonym of 'girl') and 'gal' is found within the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
(Other definitions for frugal that I've seen before include "Not wanting waste" , "not expensive" , "Economical, avoiding waste" , "Taking care" , "Practising economy" .)