[rsync]

I've spent some time thinking about this and it's a difficult problem for two reasons:

First, while we use metal blades on our ranch it's not easy - you need to educate workers on the extra safety issues involved with the blade and you need to be very careful about fire safety due to sparking. There are only a few months where we use the trimmers at all due to fire risk.[1]

Second, operators of trimmers don't like the performance of the blades and how they cut. With a bit of practice it is fine and as an employer I can dictate the tools I choose ... but convincing homeowners or small property owners to switch to blades is going to be hard. Further, there are some techniques (like trimming up to landscaping features or house siding without destroying them) that are impossible with the blade.

But yes ... if you see a row of workers mowing a big field with string ... somebody isn't putting two and two together and it's a shame to see pristine fields being plasticized.

[1] I have looked into a short metal cable made of non-sparking metal as a replacement for the blade ... not an easy thing to put together ...

[tomcam]

Hang on. You're the rsync guy and you're also running a ranch? DAYUM. I'm gobsmacked. Do you have an RSync Ranch blog somewhere?

[teruakohatu]

What is your reason for using them over plastic? Just pollution or do you have a lot of woody shrubs?

Google confirms they are available here in New Zealand but I have only ever seen them in American YouTube videos.

Over here, you can’t just dictate tools. Health & Safety regulations and agencies use highly punitive measures to ensure employers do everything possible to avoid employee injury.

Even if you hurt yourself at home you are required to disclose who your employer is if you are claiming universal accident insurance.

I am sure they keep an eye on if employees of a particular organisation are having the same type of accident “at home”.

I think this is probably why they are uncommon.

[rsync]

Yes - The choice is dictated solely by the pollution.

I Can’t comment on the laws in New Zealand, but I live in California, which is, relatively, Progressive with worker protections.

The dangers associated with the Trimmer blades are a subset of the dangers associated with the chainsaws we (safely) use.