What is Tritan Plastic?

A copolyester developed by Eastman Chemical Company, a specialty materials company founded in 1920 and listed on the NYSE.

A copolyester is a polymer built from more than one type of building block. This particular mix was engineered for three things at once: optical clarity, impact resistance and chemical safety.

It's used in medical devices, laboratory equipment and commercial food service, applications where those three aren't preferences. They're the specification.

Our grade is covered by Eastman FCN No. 1041 and complies with EU Regulation 10/2011.

Originally developed for:

  • High end water bottles
  • Water purifiers
  • Laboratory equipment
  • Medical devices
 

Not all unbreakable materials are created equal.

Tritan · DjuceGlassAcrylicPolycarbonate
CRYSTAL CLEARYesYesClouds over timeYellows over time
UNBREAKABLEYesNoCracksYes
BPA-FREEYesYesYesContains BPA
DISHWASHER SAFEYesYesNoNo
TASTE NEUTRALYesYesCan transferCan transfer
WEIGHTLightHeavyLightLight
KERBSIDE RECYCLINGNoPartialNoNo

Surface durability governs microplastic shedding

The honest part first: all plastics can shed micro-scale particles.

But shedding isn't random. Shedding is driven by three things: a scratched surface, heat and UV, and wet cycles that break the polymer down. Tritan was built to resist all three. It keeps its surface, it is stable at dishwasher temperatures, and it doesn’t degrade in the wash the way softer plastics do. That is why a Tritan glass is still clear in year four, and it is the same reason it sheds so little.

How you use it matters as much as what it’s made of. Time and heat are what drive migration, and a wine glass sees little of either: a cold drink, an hour, then the dishwasher. That is a very different life from a water bottle refilled for days or a food container in the microwave. In independent laboratory testing, our glass passed the EU overall and specific migration limits.

Isn't more plastic in the world a bad thing?

First off, producing anything takes a toll on the planet. A new product is a new product, whatever it is made of, and we don’t pretend otherwise.

What matters is what happens after it is made. The plastic doing the damage is the plastic designed to be used once. A Djuce glass is designed to be used for years, and to replace the disposable cups that get bought for an afternoon by the pool, on the boat or at the picnic and thrown away the same evening. In those places the alternative was never glass, because glass can’t go there.

Against a glass glass, kept and not broken, the two come out roughly even over a lifetime. That is not where we make a difference. The difference is every cup that doesn’t get bought because a Djuce glass went instead.

References

 

One material. Three glasses.