Hit by plastic ban, restaurants opt for steel, clay utensils to deliver eatables

Mumbai: After the plastic ban came in to force from Saturday, a few restaurants have begun using steel tiffin boxes and clay pots as a stopgap arrangement to counter major losses on home delivery. The next time an order is placed with curry, daal or any other gravy dishes from a favourite eatery, one needs to keep a container ready at the doorstep with a serving bowl as the delivery boy will pour out the gravy from his steel container into it.

While several restaurants in the twin-city have shifted to paper, cardboard, silver foils, aluminium boxes and cane-based packaging to deliver food, some have discontinued parcel services until viable alternatives are found, in the wake of the state wide plastic ban. “We have purchased steel tiffin boxes of various sizes and are telling customers to keep some empty vessels handy, so that when our delivery person arrives with the food packed in the boxes, they can empty them and return it to us. These boxes will be hygienic as we wash them ourselves in the restaurant.” says Mohan Shetty of Hotel Ratnagari in Mira Road.

In case of a takeaway order, some eateries are even contemplating to keep monetary deposits, which would be refunded when the steel container is returned. As curry items remain a sour point in takeaway orders, biryani delivered in eco-friendly clay pots are in huge demand.

“Apart from using food grade packing material, we pack biryani and other semi-liquid dishes in clay pots, which are tightly sealed with dough.” said Arvind Shetty of Hotel Swagat in Bhayandar. While eateries have registered a significant dent in their business, food delivery applications are the worst hit due to the lack of alternate packaging material.