Award-winning line maker hits ICAST with surprise eco launch

Plastools of Italy has returned to its roots by producing fishing weights, though this time with an eco-friendly twist.

The OEM line maker stopped offering lead weights as part of its business 20 years ago because of concerns for the environment, but Product Manager Moira Dal Pozzo has revealed that her team has been secretly working on lead-free alternatives for six years – and has finally perfected a proprietary eco-friendly material that allows OEM clients to customise weights in almost any configuration.

Plastools has created an initial line of weights from the new material and these Eco Heads have already been shipped as samples to select customers, just one month after the material was declared market ready. In July, Plastools will be at ICAST to officially launch the new material to international customers, though what it is made from will remain a closely guarded secret.

“This is not tungsten,” Dal Pozzo told Angling International. “It is a new material created by our team in conjunction with our sister company. That company has long been focused on bio materials thanks to being in the beverages industry. We have been sharing ideas and experimenting, and finally, after six years, we have a material that is ideal for fishing weights.”

Dal Pozzo explained that the material behind Eco Heads has two advantages over tungsten. It offers quicker production times and more scope for customising end products.

“You can have almost any shape you want, moulded with or without hook, and from one gram to twenty. And you will have your weights shipped within 30 days once you have invested in the mould. Once set up, our machines can fire out 50 pieces in 30 seconds.”

Dal Pozzo added that Plastools has the capacity to serve customers in the weights market after investing in tooling, all backed up by the company’s service department, fully in place from years of delivering its lines around the world. She added that priority will be given to customers contracting for its OEM line services. “That remains the core of our business.”

Eco Heads from Plastools represent a long-held commitment by the business towards offering eco-friendly options. “We have offered eco-friendly packaging options for our lines for many years,” explained Dal Pozzo. “Applying the same principle to weights is a logical extension of that.

“Lead bans are coming and we feel we offer your best first step towards adapting to that new reality thanks to giving you the widest possible choice of end product.

“It is also our first step towards offering a range of eco-friendly products. It has been six long years of keeping our secret and now we are really excited to come to market and see what the future holds.”