Founding member
Luka Bekavac
Head of Fruit Basket Affairs. By day a PhD candidate at FuSo auditing recommender systems; by lunchtime, auditing plates.
Recommends: finishing what the algorithm, and the canteen, served you.
Future Society Hub · University of St.Gallen
Alliance Against Food Waste
we eat up.
A cross-disciplinary alliance working across the full plate:
Serve › Eat › Clean Plate › Repeat
The Alliance Against Food Waste is a coalition of people who have looked at a half-eaten plate and said: not on my watch. Our primary objective is simple: we eat up. Our secondary objective is the university fruit basket, which we rescue, according to a strict and legally dubious protocol, before a single banana goes brown.
Founded in October 2026 by Luka Bekavac and Simon Mayer at the Future Society Hub (FuSo) of the University of St.Gallen (HSG) in Switzerland, the alliance asks its members to finish what is on their plate, take only what they will eat, and take the university fruit basket home before it spoils.
Food is for eating. So we eat it.
Roughly a third of all food produced for people is lost or wasted, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization. We cannot fix global supply chains over lunch, but we can fix the last thirty centimetres between the plate and the bin.
Membership is open to anyone with a mouth and a sense of responsibility. There are no fees, only seconds.
0 g
Target food waste per member per meal
2
Founding members, both with clean plates
∞
Second helpings permitted
2 Fridays
Maximum dwell time of a fruit basket
Principle 01
We eat up.
What is on your plate is your responsibility. The plate is done when it is clean, not when you are bored.
Principle 02
Portion honestly.
Take what you will finish. You can always go back for more; you cannot un-take a third dumpling.
Principle 03
Rescue the fruit basket.
The basket is not decoration. It follows the Fruit Basket Protocol, and so do you.
Principle 04
Wonky is still food.
A crooked carrot tastes exactly like a straight one. A spotty banana is a banana at its peak.
Principle 05
Doggy bags, no shame.
Leftovers are tomorrow's lunch. Bring a box. Ask for a box. Be the box.
Principle 06
Best before is not bad after.
Look, smell, taste. Your senses are older than the label. (Use-by dates on meat and fish are another matter: respect those.)
The Fruit Basket Protocol
Our university has a fruit basket. It appears, it is admired, and then, too often, it quietly turns into compost. Not any more. The alliance operates under the following policy, reproduced here in full and without amendment.
If there is fruit left on the first Friday after the fruit basket has appeared (that’s today), start taking fruit home. If there is fruit left on the second Friday after the fruit basket has appeared, you must take fruit home. If you see a fruit basket on your way in, take it and put it on the table. It is permitted to arrange fruit in ways that afford taking/eating.
Day 0
The basket appears
Fruit is for eating at work. Grab an apple. Grab two. Nobody is counting, except the alliance.
First Friday after
Fruit left? Start taking it home.
The weekend is coming and the fruit will not survive it alone. Taking fruit home is now encouraged.
Second Friday after
Fruit left? You must take it home.
Not a suggestion. This is a rescue mission, and you are the helicopter.
§1
First Friday: permission
If there is fruit left on the first Friday after the basket has appeared, members start taking fruit home.
Commentary“Start” is deliberately open-ended. One pear is a start. So is a bag.
§2
Second Friday: obligation
If there is fruit left on the second Friday after the basket has appeared, members must take fruit home.
Commentary“I don't like kiwis” is not a recognised defence. Make a smoothie.
§3
The delivery clause
If you see a fruit basket on your way in, take it and put it on the table.
CommentaryA basket in the hallway is a basket nobody eats from. You are its last mile.
§4
The affordance clause
It is permitted to arrange fruit in ways that afford taking/eating.
CommentaryInteraction design applies to bananas too. Ripest on top, the lonely last apple front and centre, nothing buried under the melon.
The Basket-o-meter
Unsure what the Protocol requires of you today? Tell the meter when the basket appeared and whether there is fruit left. It will tell you what to do. It is never wrong, only occasionally hungry.
Is there fruit left?
Your basket date is remembered on this device, so you only have to set it once per basket.
Eat it here.
Founding members
The alliance was founded at the Future Society Hub by two people who were tired of watching perfectly good fruit lose its will to live.
Founding member
Simon Mayer
Chief Plate Inspector. By day co-director of FuSo, working on human–machine interaction; by lunchtime, on human–leftover interaction.
Recommends: arranging fruit in ways that afford eating.
Frequently asked questions
Answered by the founding members, with their mouths full.
What is the Alliance Against Food Waste?
A light-hearted initiative of the Future Society Hub at the University of St.Gallen, Switzerland, against food waste. Members pledge to eat up: finish what is on their plate, take only what they will finish, and follow the Fruit Basket Protocol so that the university's fruit is eaten rather than thrown away.
Who founded the alliance?
Luka Bekavac and Simon Mayer, both of the Future Society Hub (FuSo) at the University of St.Gallen, founded it in October 2026.
What is the Fruit Basket Protocol?
The alliance's rule for the university fruit basket. If fruit is left on the first Friday after the basket appeared, members start taking fruit home; if fruit is left on the second Friday, they must take it home. Anyone who sees a fruit basket on their way in carries it to the table, and arranging the fruit so it invites eating is explicitly allowed.
How do I join?
Sign the pledge at the bottom of this page to get your membership card. To appear on the list of members, submit the pre-filled GitHub issue that the card links to; a founding member approves it and your name is added automatically.
What if I am genuinely full?
Then you took too much, and Principle 02 has a word for you. In the meantime: box it, take it home, eat it later. Full is temporary. Leftovers keep.
Does a banana peel count as food waste?
No. Peels, cores, pits and stones are exempt. The alliance is ambitious, not unhinged. (Compost them, though.)
The basket appeared on a Friday. Is that the first Friday?
No. The first Friday is the first one after the basket appeared, so you get a full week of eating at work first. The Basket-o-meter knows this.
Somebody else left food on their plate. What do I do?
Lead by example. Finish your own plate, visibly and with relish. Direct intervention in other people's lunches is reserved for founding members, and only if they ask nicely.
Can I leave the alliance?
Yes. But the fruit will know.
Is there a membership fee?
No. Membership is paid for entirely in clean plates.
Take the pledge
Joining takes ten seconds and lasts a lifetime of clean plates. Tick the commitments, sign with your name, and receive your official membership card.
Alliance Against Food Waste · Member
Signed
Date
Witnessed byL. Bekavac & S. Mayer
Your card is kept on this device only. To be listed below, click “Get on the list” and submit the pre-filled GitHub issue (you need a GitHub account). Once a founding member approves it, your name appears here automatically.