Eco-Shopping in Mosman Park

I had the most delightful eco-shopping experience the other day in Mosman Park in four very different shops. All four shops are environmentally friendly, all are run by passionate people, and all are within about 50 metres of each other in strip of Stirling Highway that is showing promising signs of renewed vibrancy.

Foxes of Fancy

My first stop was Foxes of Fancy at 616 Stirling Highway, a beautiful new studio and shop whose apt motto is “eco made fabulous.” Foxes of Fancy stocks handmade homewares, clothing, stationery, skincare, and more, much of which is designed and made onsite. It’s the fruit of a collaboration between two gifted designers, Marianne of Tex & Joe and Stacey of Inuk.

My organisational saviour!

I would have happily bought just about everything in the shop, but limited myself to a gorgeous vertical wall organiser for my office (pictured) and stunning handmade cards from Paper Nest. The organiser is made from hemp, recycled plastic drink bottles and recycled polyester, and I have high hopes that it will make my messy office “eco fabulous!” (Mr One Green Step admires the organiser but is not so sure it will help.) A shout out to Inuk too, as their hemp t-shirt from the Mosman Park EcoFair is my new favourite piece of clothing.

Pop in to see Stacey and Maz (and cheeky mascot Ferdinand Fox) if you can, but if you can’t make it to the studio, check out their newly launched website and do some online shopping instead.

Cartridge World

Eco-goodies in hand, my next stop was to see Simon at Cartridge World at 596 Stirling Highway, where I picked up a remanufactured toner cartridge for my colour laser printer. Printer cartridges are one my eco-bugbears, as millions of them needlessly end up in landfill each year, where they take up to 1000 years to decompose.

As the cost of printers has come down dramatically, more households own one (or more), which equates to many more ink and toner cartridges (1.9 billion in 2008!). And most people still go out and buy new cartridges when theirs run low – and chuck the old ones in the bin.

But if you take your empty cartridges to somewhere like Cartridge World, they can “recharge” them, regardless of what type it is – ink, laser, fax, or photocopier. When they recharge the cartridge, Cartridge World checks for wear and tear and issue a 100% money back guarantee. The recharged cartridges cost less (often A LOT less) than new ones and are far kinder to the environment, as it’s re-used until it can’t be repaired any more – at which point it’s recycled.

If you bring in a cartridge that can’t be recharged, you can give them your old one to be recycled. Or, if you can’t make it to Cartridge World, find your nearest Cartridges 4 PlanetArk drop off point – including most Australia Post outlets, Harvey Norman, Dick Smith, JB Hi-Fi, The Good Guys and Officeworks. PlanetArk’s program, which works in partnership with major manufacturers, has recycled over 15 million cartridges to date.

Hunters + Collectors Interiors

From there I popped into Hunters + Collectors Interiors at 614 Stirling Highway, which specialises in authentic and original mid-century modern furniture, much of which has been lovingly found and brought back to life by their artisan restorer. Alicia and her colleagues hand-pick furniture from Europe, the US and Australia, and their stock includes iconic designers like Ray and Charles Eames, Hans Wegner, Arne Jacobesen and Australian designers Grant Featherston and Douglas Snelling. Hunters + Collectors shows how stunning upcycling can be – I feel as if I’ve been transported to the set of “MadMen” as I browse. Many many things went on the wish list!

Save The Children Op Shop

And last, to round out my eco-shopping experience, I popped into the Save The Children op shop at 600 Stirling Highway, because since my “six months with no new clothes” experience, I simply cannot go past an op shop without going in for a trawl.

The ladies in the shop were lovely and welcoming and I lurked for a while listening to a man negotiate the price of a working manual typewriter, circa 1960. (Raising the question, can you even buy replacement ribbons anymore?). And then I found it … the perfect addition to my collection of old and/or interesting cake plates, 100% sourced from Perth op shops. Spode! Pretty! Five dollars!

So, next time you’re down Mosman Park way, set aside some time to do some eco-shopping and see how local businesses in our area are working in different ways to take one green step at a time.