Mere waste — housing scheme for the company, perhaps (8)
I believe the answer is:
employer
'the company perhaps' is the definition.
I can't judge whether this defines the answer.
'mere waste housing scheme' is the wordplay.
'waste' indicates an anagram (I've seen 'wasted' mean this).
'housing' indicates putting letters inside.
'scheme' becomes 'ploy' (I have seen 'Tactical scheme' mean 'ploy' so perhaps 'scheme' could also mean 'ploy').
'mere' is an anagram of 'emer'.
'emer' placed around 'ploy' is 'EMPLOYER'.
'for' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for employer that I've seen before include "One engaging staff" , "One hires staff" , "User; boss" , "One for whom people work" , "One's worked for" .)