Sustainability

Considerable care has been taken to make the Canberra Glassworks as environmentally friendly as possible.

• The mass of the building and its high ceilings is used to cool the building in summer by purging hot air through controllable louvers in the roof structure.
• Rainwater is collected by the Glassworks from its large roof area, stored in original Powerhouse condenser-tanks (that stored river water) for use as glass process water and in the center’s toilets/handbasins.
• Processed water is used for a range of cold working processes and washing the floors in the workshops. The used water is then treated to remove dirt, grit and glass.
• There are no emissions of toxic fumes or gases from glass making at the Canberra Glassworks. The Glassworks melts “batch” which is mixed to a special formula to give a great quality of glass, which is sourced from Victoria.  The ‘raw’ glass is then melted in the Canberra Glassworks furnace, so the only emissions are heat and water vapor.