Eco biz makes Dotty a busy bee

WHEN Dotty Mahony concluded her career of technical and analytic laboratory work, she began her own experiments at home.

“I was a bit bored in my retirement. My youngest daughter had some beeswax wraps and gave me a set,” she said.

“I looked at them, and I liked them a lot, so I decided to make some of my own.”

With trial and error, Mrs Mahony developed her own beeswax wrap for keeping food fresh, with locally-bought hand-cut organic cotton fabric, beeswax, pine resin and coconut oil three years ago.

“Being a mum of four, I didn’t just make one, I made heaps, and I was very pleased with the finish of them, so I started giving them out to family and friends, and started a stall at Brown Hill Market,” she said.

This project grew to be EcoDotty, a small business with a mission to encourage sustainability in the kitchen.

“Single-use plastics have bothered me for a very, very long time, and beeswax wraps are an excellent alternative because you can use them 100 times, and they last one to two years.

“Glad Wrap might be magic stuff, but it’s single use, is just discarded, and is so bad for the environment. This is one step towards doing away with single-use plastics,” Mrs Mahony said.

A knitter since the age of four with a “love of wool,” she’s also a master of good-old colourful tea cosies. These have been added to the EcoDotty range too.

Mrs Mahony’s popular, detailed designs include Yoda, Frida Kahlo, Shaun the Sheep, a rainbow lorikeet, retro pineapples and more.

“I use pure wool, so if you have a decent-sized pot of tea, you can come back in half an hour to 45 minutes after you’ve filled it and get a second cup.

“It won’t burn your tongue, but it still insulates. The beauty of them is they last forever,” she said.

EcoDotty also produces wood conditioner made from beeswax, carnauba, and olive oil, and Mrs Mahony is a regular at the fortnightly Ballarat Market by Lake Wendouree.

“I love having something to do in my retirement, and I like to feel useful. EcoDotty is one small step towards saving the environment. It helps,” she said.