You can “recycle” the waste. Which means extracting the remaining uranium and concentrating the remaining waste which is more radioactive after that.

Which is done because it is cheaper than new uranium.

Thorium will be working before fusion reactors?

Also there is technology that indeed can use current radioactive waste and make power from it and break it into less radioactive waste. However the technology seems not that cost efficient yet. (well normal nuclear plants aren’t either)