Irish households and cafes are dumping food at a rate of more than 100kg per person every year in careless practices that are adding to an international food waste crisis. A UN report found 17pc of all food produced worldwide goes uneaten – twice as much as previously thought. That means pointless use of energy and other resources in growing, processing, packaging, chilling, transportation and disposal. The squandered energy is responsible for up to 10pc of global greenhouse gas emissions and it increases food costs, making matters worse for billions of people who go hungry or exist on inadequate diets every year.