It does waste wire. The run of cable from power source to the first switch will only use the "hot" wire. The neutral wire will not be connected. The run from th

It does waste wire. The run of cable from power source to the first switch will only use the "hot" wire. The neutral wire will not be connected. The run from the second switch can have its neutral wire used, but unless there happens to be a good path to ground at the point of the second switch, there will need to be more cable run for that path to path to ground. So assuming strictly 2-wire only cable, there will always be waste. Fortunately for the world someone long ago noticed this, and they sell spools of wire. These spools of wire and electrical conduit are used by electricians to great advantage for keeping wasted wires to a minimum. (Also, it is arguably safer to have no runs of "unused" wire just sitting there, because of potential for mistaken "bare hots" or accidental misuses of the wire causing shorts and fires and whatnot).