Frequently Asked Questions

We are on a journey to eventually convert all our products to be biodegradable. Unfortunately, we are not there yet. Our trimmer line range is still made from conventional nylon and is not biodegradable. We are working to change that and are doing trials on an innovative new composite that will provide us with a raw material that will be suitable for the demands of a good trimmer line.

Your trimmer line will perform well for many years, if looked after well. Always store your trimmer line away from direct sunlight and keep it well hydrated. To keep the line flexible and reduce breakage, we recommend that you dunk your spool of line in a bucket of water every couple of months. If you have not used it for a while, like come spring, leave it submerged in water for a couple of days to restore suppleness.

The conventional wisdom is to test what size or shape works best and what is recommended by the manufacturer. From our experience the shape that works the best for a bumper head are round trimmer lines, ranging from 2.4mm to 3mm. This is because the smooth surface does not get stuck as easily in the feeding mechanism. Some customers tell us that they prefer the square lines however. Twisted trimmer lines tend to be too slippery and can easily overfeed or be pulled from the bumper head when cutting so are not recommended.

We produce Evercut trimmer line in 4 different shapes – Round, Square, Hexagon and Twisted. Although most shapes are interchangeable, each of the different shapes have specific benefits. For more information on how to choose the best shape of line for your requirements, check our a blog we wrote about that.

The diameter and weight/meter of your trimmer line depends on a combination of (a) the size and type of line trimmer you use and (b) the type of job (environment) you are dealing with.

For more information on how to choose the right line, check out a blog we wrote about that.

We sell our Evercut trimmer line in 3 different spool sizes – a small 1.0kg, medium 1.5kg and large 4.0kg. Our twisted trimmer lines come in 0.8kg, 1.3kg and a large 3.5kg spool.

The reason we sell our trimmer line by weight rather than meters, is that it lets us standardise our packaging. This means that we can keep the cost of packaging down (and keep our products well priced) and regardless of the model of trimmer line you order, you always know what size this spool will be. The standard spool size also works well for commercial operators with dispensing set ups.

We are aware that there were overseas brands selling degradable trimmer line. The material used to produce these products are now banned in most countries and will soon be banned in NZ also, so you will eventually no longer see these products. To make trimmer line degradable, these manufacturers use an additive that causes the nylon to break down into very small bits, essentially creating micro plastics. We have chosen NOT to do that. Until such time as suitable and genuinely biodegradable raw materials for trimmer lines are available, we will continue to produce our trimmer line from the best quality nylon. By using a very good quality conventional nylon, we hope to reduce the number of times your line breaks (causing pieces of trimmer line to be left behind) and so keep possible pollution to a minimum.

We are committed to finding an environmentally responsible solution to the problem and that is why we are currently testing several raw materials and composites that could provide genuinely biodegradable alternatives. Watch this space!

The raw materials use to produce a good quality trimmer line is hygroscopic, meaning that it absorbs water. So, if your line arrives feeling a bit damp, it simply means that it is from a very fresh batch.

EarthTwine was developed to be compostable under industrial composting conditions. That means that it needs the heat in your compost heap/bin to reach 55 degrees Celsius for it to break down fast and completely. If your compost heap does not quite reach those temperatures, EarthTwine will still compost, but it will take significantly longer.

EarthTwine is not recyclable and should not be placed into any recycling systems. Recycling infrastures in NZ are not able to process compostable polymers yet and products made from these polymers should not enter recycling streams as they will cause disruption to current recycling processes.

We produce different variations of EarthTwine each with different functional specifications. Check the tensile strength (average breaking load) of the twine before making a choice, but if you are unsure, you are welcome to contact us.

Our standard EarthTwine is white. The green twine was specifically developed for hop growers working very closely with these growers. Our hop twine was specifically designed to cope with the outdoor environmental demands, be softer on the hands and slide easily in tying tools. It is also visually less obtrusive when used in hop yards. Generally, the green twine has a higher tensile strength (breaking load) and works well for

The raw material we use to make EarthTwine from is naturally UV stable. Although EarthTwine will eventually weaken due to sun exposure, this will only happen after a couple of years.

EarthTwine will break down into water, CO2 and biomass. No harmful residues are left behind.

We develop all our compostable products from proprietary recipes of bio-based raw materials. In most cost instances these materials are sourced from plants such as corn, sugar cane and other vegetable starches. The additives we use can be either minerals or other organic compounds, but are non-toxic and the additives are often food grade materials.

Always store EarthTwine in dry conditions and away from direct sunlight and high temperatures. Ideally it should be kept below 25 degrees Celsius.

In the early days of selling EarthTwine we wrapped the individual spools in plastic wrap – it was the best thing we had available to work with. We have however developed our own compostable wrap in the meantime, so EarthTwine sold from 2022 onwards, comes in compostable wrapping on the individual spools – a first for the industry!

Our twist ties are the only product we currently have available in either conventional or soil degradable options.

Our standard lengths are 100mm, 150mm and 200mm, but we can do non-standard lengths ranging from 60mm to 280mm. For non standard lengths, minimum order quantities may apply.

We can also provide uncut ties on spools of 1,000m.

Standard colours for conventional twist ties are: black, white, red, green and blue, but we can make other colours such as yellow, pink and matt silver (minimum order quantities apply).

Our soil degradable twist ties are currently available in green and grey.