Did you know that Americans alone use approximately 50 billion plastic water bottles each year, and while plastic water bottles are typically recyclable, a staggering 88% of those water bottles still end up right in our landfills? If those numbers weren't telling enough, let's just reiterate. Plastic is a huge problem for the modern world!  We are literally surrounded by it. From our keyboards at work, to our blenders in the kitchen at home, all the way to the majority of toys that our children play with, we cannot seem to escape this reliance on, and ever-looming presence of, plastic.

For those looking to escape the tight grip of plastic, one great way to start reducing plastic from our lives, our landfills, and our water ways, is to simply stop using plastic water bottles and start utilizing glass water bottles, like Glasstic!

Q: What originally brought about the idea for Glasstic water bottles?

A: We began to develop the Glasstic Bottle when we saw a need in the market for high quality and pure yet portable beverage containers. The portable water bottle market had begun to replace plastic bottles with metal ones due to increasing concern of harmful chemicals leaching from the plastic bottles. In spite of this trend, we felt that metal bottles were not what people were ultimately wanting but there were not many alternatives. We knew the ultimate water bottle had to be made of glass. Yet we also know we had to make a glass bottle that was portable, break resistant, shatterproof, BPA free, toxin free and safe over-all to carry into public places. In other words, a worry-free glass water bottle.

Q: For those who are worried about having a water bottle that is made out of glass over one that is made of plastic because they are worried about it breaking, how do Glasstic water bottles hold up against being dropped?

A: Testing performed by an independent 3rd party testing firm has concluded that the product sustains 6 bottom drops on average before breaking the glass inside. We do ask that customers NOT try to drop or break Glasstic Bottles on purpose as other parts of the product like the handle on the sports lid could be damaged or broken. Glass is easy to break, but hard to clean up the pieces. Silicone sleeves do not contain the shattering glass if the bottle breaks. This is something that greatly differentiates Glasstic from other glass water bottles. The Glasstic Bottle is not only very break resistant, but it is very shatterproof. If you drop it and the glass breaks inside, the glass will remain contained inside the protective shell. This makes disposing of any broken glass much safer and easier, plus the glass insert is replaceable encouraging reuse. The cap and the base are also replaceable and recyclable. Click here and here to watch one of their drop tests!

Q: Many plastic water bottles contain BPA, the main component of polycarbonate, Glasstic on the other hand does not. Can you tell us a little bit about the harms of BPAs?

A: The most common toxin in plastic is Bisphenol A (BPA) and plastic may also contain phthalates, polyurethanes, polyacrylonitriles, and EA's. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration used to say that BPA was safe, but in 2010 the agency altered its position. The FDA maintains that studies using standardized toxicity tests have shown BPA to be safe at the current low levels of human exposure. But based on other evidence - largely from animal studies - the FDA expressed "some concern" about the potential effects of BPA on the brain, behavior, and prostate glands in fetuses, infants, and young children. As for non-glass non-plastic bottles, aluminum is a neurotoxin and so most, if not all, aluminum bottles contain a plastic lining that may contain BPA. Stainless steel bottles can contain heavy metals like chromium, nickel and arsenic which could leach into the beverage. We feel this is something to consider with aluminum and stainless steel bottles. The Glasstic protective outer shell, the cap and the base are all BPA free. The outer plastic shell is made from a safe durable BPA-free Eastman Tritan™ copolyester. Copolyesters are used in a wide range of applications including food and beverage packaging, medical devices, medical packaging, personal care, cosmetic packaging and visual merchandising. The cap and base are food-grade #5 Polypropylene (PP), a thermoplastic polymer. It is strong, tough, has a high resistance to heat and acts as a barrier to moisture. Polypropylene is found in yogurt and margarine tubs, plastic cups and baby bottles, kitchenware, microwavable plastic containers and lids.

Q: Do Glasstic bottles come in a variety of colors and styles?

A: Yes, Glasstic currently comes in 6 Flip Lid colors (Blue, Green, Pink, Purple. White and Black) and 4 designs (Blue Peace, Green Retro, Black Ying Yang and Pink Love) and the designs are also available with the original grey screw top lid. We also offer the ability to personalize and customize your Glasstic Bottle with a brand logo or design of your choice.

Q: Lastly, every day our landfills fill up with more garbage and more plastic products. Do you believe that if more people switched over from using plastic water bottles to glass ones that we could help mend the growing problem in our landfills?

A: Absolutely, and not just reducing plastic from landfills but reducing plastic pollution in the oceans and all bodies of water. Plastic in the ocean breaks down into such small segments that pieces of plastic from a one liter bottle could end up on every mile of beach throughout the world. Single-use water bottles creates an enormous amount of waste. Americans alone use about 50 billion plastic water bottles each year, and while plastic water bottles are typically recyclable a staggering 88% of water bottles end up in landfills. When water bottles are buried underground or in a pile of trash, it takes up to 1,000 years for them to biodegrade so what you throw out today will likely still be around until the year 3015. Contributing to the cycle of waste, in order to produce the single-use water bottle demands each year the U.S. uses over 2.7 million tons of plastic annually and to make that plastic they use over 46 million tons of water and over 17 million barrels of crude oil.

To find out even more about Glasstic, the shatterproof glass water bottle, go check out their website and find them on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr and YouTube!