​Getting back to nature

At a glance

Application: Food contact/housewares
Customer: Ishikawa
Geography: Asia Pacific
Products: Eastman Tritan™ copolyester
Benefits: Resistant to chemicals; BPA free; durable; clear; lightweight; shatter resistant; color matching; provides an end-of-life solution through closed-loop mechanical recycling

The challenge

Ishikawa’s ARAS product line was born in 2020, during a time of growing discussion around environmental issues, especially the issue of plastic waste. Ishikawa wanted to use its products to create a better future for the environment and people. The company knew the problem wasn’t about the use of plastic but what happened when the plastic was thrown away.

Ishikawa chose to focus on sustainability to grow its brand. It also chose to partner with Eastman to help reduce the environmental impact of its product line without sacrificing quality. Ishikawa wanted tableware that could be used every day, and, because of repeated use, the cups, bowls, plates and chopsticks had to be tough enough not to break or chip, even after being dropped repeatedly. The products also had to be classy enough to provide a more enjoyable and richer dining experience — in private homes and in Japanese restaurants, cafes and hotels. But Ishikawa was looking for more than clear tableware. It wanted colors that caused the food to look even more enticing when served. Vivid colors, it knew, caused food to look dull, and colors that exist in the natural world are more visually appealing.

ARAS chopsticks

The Eastman solution

Eastman Tritan™ copolyester has transformed how brand owners, designers, molders and consumers think about plastics. Tritan offers many advantages over other materials, including toughness, heat resistance, easy processing, chemical resistance and clarity. This unique balance of processing and performance properties helped Ishikawa bring its ARAS products to market.

Tritan also enabled Ishikawa’s designers to return to nature — the sky, the forest, the mountains, the sea — to create alluring tableware shapes in seven colors. Tritan’s ability to be used in opaque applications — and offer a variety of aesthetic options — created compatibility with natural ingredients and led to the richer dining experience Ishikawa wanted.

The result

Innovative companies like Ishikawa have created special closed loop programs to take products made with Tritan at their end-of-life, and mechanically recycled into materials used as handles for its sustainably based cutlery. This ingenuity provides a sustainability-focused product offering that sets them apart. Because they are so confident in Tritan’s attributes, they state that ARAS tableware can be dropped a thousand times and will not break. If it does break, Ishikawa will replace it for free.

“Tritan was the perfect solution for our ARAS line, and the Eastman team was amazing to work with,” said Tsutomu Ishikawa, chief operating officer of Ishikawa. “They offered the expertise and recommendations to help us create this new, sustainable line of tableware. We are pleased with the results, and we’re proud to collaborate with a company that places a high value on a better tomorrow through sustainability.”