The Partnership for the Delaware Estuary has a new residential shellfish recycling program in Delaware.
The nonprofit uses shells to maintain the 1,300 feet of shoreline it has restored in the region with living habitat for oysters.
Now it’s put two recycling bins in the parking lot of George & Sons’ Seafood Market in Hockessin for people who want their used shells to go towards keeping the water clean in the Delaware Estuary.
“It’s like any other sort of recycling,” said Habitat Project Coordinator Sarah Bouboulis. “If you were to go to the recycling center they have like a thing for plastics and batteries, or whatever, and now you have a place you can go for your oyster shells as well.”
Bouboulis says each shell the partnership puts into its shorelines can be home to up to 30 new oysters.
“They are a great habitat for a lot of different creatures including red mussels and oysters that use the shell as a place to attach and start growing,” she said. “They need a hard substrate to attach to to grow.”
The partnership has collected shells from area restaurants since 2016, but this is the first public drop-off location. Bouboulis says it’s a pilot program which will expand if it is successful.
The program will replenish shells at sites like the living shoreline on the Mispillion River at the Dupont Nature Center. The partnership is planning a new shoreline this summer on the Maurice River in New Jersey.
The partnership is also offering a prize drawing for people who post selfies next to the bins on social media with #PDEShellfie.
