Our plastic staple is a polyurethane T-end fastener specifically designed to be used in the ST9500 machine. The Ecotach™ Plastic Staple (15025-0) is made from a proprietary polyurethane material specifically designed to degrade* at an accelerated rate of 11.91% over 45 days in landfill conditions. The technology used results in no microplastics* so that when this staple completely degrades, all that is left is carbon dioxide, water, and microbes (biomass). Comparatively speaking, a typical thermoplastic polyurethane fastener would degrade ~0% over the same time frame and take anywhere from 20 -30 years to break down, depending on environmental conditions. Once the Ecotach Plastic Staple is placed into a landfill, naturally occurring bacteria in that environment breaks the fastener down without leaving behind microplastics or any other harmful substances.* These products are shelf-stable and will not begin to degrade unless put into the designated end-of-life waste stream.
*We have completed 3rd party ASTM D5511-18 testing that shows that our EcotachTM Plastic Staple® degrades 11.91% over 45 days in a landfill environment. We do not have data showing how much time it takes for the fasteners to completely degrade.
