June 2026
Why We Still Use Steel Dabbas in 2026
Single-use packaging is the default everywhere else. Here's why Mumbai Dabbawala never considered it for Perth.
Every Mumbai Dabbawala order arrives in a reusable stainless steel tiffin — the same three-tier dabba design Mumbai's dabbawalas have used since 1890. We collect it on your next delivery, wash it, and send it back out. No compostable clamshells, no foil trays, nothing that ends up in a Perth landfill after one meal.
The maths is simple: a steel dabba easily survives thousands of wash cycles. A single-use container survives one. For a subscription service delivering the same customer's lunch five days a week, the reusable model isn't a sustainability add-on — it's the only version of this business that made sense to build.
It does mean a small amount of friction the disposable alternative doesn't have: you need to have your last dabba out (or in your building's collection point) for us to swap it. Our drivers carry spares for exactly this reason, and our Perth kitchen washes and re-circulates the full fleet every day, the same discipline that's kept Mumbai's own network running for over a century.
If you're moving suburbs, pausing your subscription for a while, or just want to know where your dabba's been — ask us. Every tiffin in circulation is tracked by its own code, the same one your delivery confirmation shows each day.