Kategorie: News
Palau’s Glass Revolution
At the edge of Koror, a small workshop is turning the islands' waste problem into something beautiful - and its story is now traveling all the way to Germany.
At Boot Düsseldorf 2026, among the glossy stands and industry chatter, Tova, director of Fish n Fins, was handing out gifts - small, delicate glass pieces that stopped people mid-conversation. Not because they are expensive. Because they are extraordinary in a quieter way - every single one was made from waste.
The pieces came from Belau Eco Glass, a studio in Koror, Palau, and Tova had brought them to one of the world's biggest dive and water sports trade shows not as marketing collateral, but as a statement. This is what Palau produces. This is what Palau values.
Where the bottles go
Belau Eco Glass was founded in 2015 as a program of the Koror State Waste Management Office. The premise is simple and quietly radical - Palau, like every island nation, accumulates glass waste with nowhere to send it. Here, those bottles - Corona, Heineken, Budweiser - are cleaned, ground into sand, and fed into a furnace hot enough to render them molten again. What the artists pull from that heat are jellyfish mirroring the golden moon jellies of Jellyfish Lake, manta rays with a metallic sheen, plumeria flowers, flag-colored earrings, and small bowls that look like they belong in a gallery.
"Corona beer bottles are the best to use as a base because they are clear bottles." - Keiko Setuguchi, subproject manager, Belau Eco Glass
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has been a key partner since the beginning, sending volunteers from the NPO Glass Craft Association to train Palauan artists in glassblowing, kiln work, and sandblasting. In 2021, that partnership funded a major new facility - equipment that visiting Japanese experts said rivals studios back home.
Art, economy, and a furnace
The program still receives government and JICA support, but the commercial momentum is building. Pieces sell at Koror's Night Markets, at the on-site gallery, and now - thanks to Fish n Fins - they are finding their way into the hands of dive industry professionals in Europe who had never heard of the project before.
That is precisely the point. Fish n Fins has long championed local initiatives in Palau, and Belau Eco Glass is one worth championing loudly. Visitors to Palau can book a hands-on glassblowing session at $65 per person - a tour, a lesson, and a finished piece to take home after 24 hours of cooling. It is one of the more honest tourist experiences available anywhere - you make something real, from something that would otherwise be landfill, guided by someone who has spent years learning how.
A gift that carries a story
The glass items Tova brought to Düsseldorf were not just pretty objects - though they are that. They were a way of saying that sustainable tourism in Palau is not a tagline. It is a furnace running in a recycling center, and artists who have turned a waste problem into a craft, and a small studio that deserves far more attention than it gets.
If you are coming to Palau, put it on your list. Ask at Fish n Fins - they will point you in the right direction.
Belau Eco Glass Center, Koror State waste management facility, M-Dock Koror. Tours $65 per person, advance booking required. Contact: +680-488-8076 / ksg.swm@gmail.com. Cash only or book with Fish n Fins - https://fishnfins.com.