Restaurants the world over are working hard to roll out new and inventive ways to reduce their dependence on plastic and packaging waste. In an effort to embrace a zero-waste strategy, Deer Park Cafe, a popular Cape Town eatery on the upper slopes of Vredehoek plans to slowly introduce tiffins as takeaway containers.

Deer Park Cafe has now launched the Deer Park Tiffin Club, allowing customers to receive their meals in tiffins every Thursday.

A tiffin is a type of lunch box used to transport and serve tiffin meals, an Indian meal which usually refers to a light tea-time or breakfast meal. This carrier is widely used in Asia, from India and Indonesia to Malaysia and Singapore.  The cylindrical container is typically made from steel.

To make use of this offer, simply sign up for their Tiffin Club and pay a R200 deposit to cover the cost of a tiffin set. With a variety of sets there is no minimum order but the maximum set is four – perfect for three curries and rice.

Every Thursday they will deliver whatever meal you ordered in a tiffin set and retrieve the tiffin set delivered the week before. If you no longer wish to order or are unable to, just inform Deer Park Cafe and they will reimburse your R200 once they have received their tiffins back. You may also keep your tiffin set and the cafe will keep the R200.

“This is a work in progress – there are certain sides and dishes that we still have to deliver in plastic/biodegradable, but packaging the bulk of your order in 100% reusable tiffins is our small but sincere bit to reduce packaging waste, responsible for half of the waste that pollutes Earth. Thank you to those who have signed up – here’s to more of us embracing a zero-waste strategy,” wrote Deer Park Cafe on Instagram.

To sign up for their weekly changing menu, please write to [email protected]

Picture/s: Instagram / Deer Park Deli

Article written by