LAKEWOOD - A local company is helping to expand a pilot program that takes oyster and clam shells from the dinner plate to Jersey Shore reefs.
On Nov. 10, Buckhead Meat & Seafood on New Hampshire Avenue in Lakewood and its parent company Sysco announced a collaboration with state Fish and Wildlife officials to collect discarded shells from the company's network of restaurants.
These shells will be used to rebuild important oyster reefs throughout New Jersey, reefs that not only help preserve the future of the oyster industry here but help to improve water quality and provide essential aquatic habitat for other animals.
"Sysco will work with the over 800 restaurants (it supplies) within the northeast and Atlantic coast area to collect shell that is otherwise destined for a landfill," said Shawn LaTourette, commissioner of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, which oversees the shell recycling program. Sysco is among the largest food distribution companies in the world.
The process begins with restaurant staff separating seafood shells from other garbage and placing shells in special containers to be collected weekly, said Scott Stueber, the state department's coordinator for the shell recycling program.
The program first launched in 2019 with shell collections from Atlantic City restaurants and casinos. The program helped has since helped to repopulate oysters within the Mullica River.
The state's new collaboration with Sysco marks the largest expansion of the program to date, said LaTourette.
Each week, members of the shell recycling program collect the discarded shells from restaurants and bring them to a site to "cure," said Stueber.
"That means it'll sit in the sun for six months to make sure it's free of any kind of meat, any kind of disease or pathogens that would be harmful to the native oyster population," he said.
After curing for months, the shells are loaded onto barges and "blown," or planted, in strategic areas of rivers and bays where state officials believe oyster reefs could prove beneficial.
"Oysters are incredible workers," LaTourette said. "They clean the water that runs through them, filtering out contaminants, and improving the quality of the waterways that they inhabit.
"At the same time, they're providing reef expansions, providing new opportunity to enhance the… aquatic ecosystem that exists," he said.
As these reefs grow, they provide important habitat for young oysters as well as other kinds of aquatic life, like blue crabs, menhaden, flounder and shrimp, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA.
The reefs also provide important protection from coastal storms, by absorbing wave energy, reducing erosion and providing a buffer around wetlands, according to NOAA.
Expanding the reefs will also benefit New Jersey's fisheries industry, said John Yates, president of Sysco's Buckhead Meat & Seafood’s Mid-Atlantic Region.
"We rely on healthy water systems to sustain our business," said Yates. "Our customers also rely on this. They need great quality seafood, locally sourced."
This project will help to regenerate and sustain that environment for shellfish harvesters, he said.
Without shells placed back into the aquatic system, New Jersey's oyster fisheries could be endangered. In the past, restaurants would toss shells into the garbage stream, where they would end up in landfills. That created a problem because free-floating oyster larvae need to attach to a hard surface, like old shell and reefs, in order to grow, according to NOAA.
Since 2021, more than 1,100 tons of shell have been planted in New Jersey reefs through the program and through purchases from seafood processors, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
"Last year's planting alone has the potential for the addition of 24 million new oysters into the system," said Stueber, the shell recycling program coordinator.
Shell planting has also helped restore the oyster fishery within Delaware Bay, said Steve Fleetwood, a southern New Jersey oyster grower and a member of the Delaware Bay Shellfish Council.
Delaware Bay success a model
"Delaware Bay is in itself a success story," he said. "We've had some really hard times."
In the 1980s, different oyster diseases wiped out much of the population within the bay, Fleetwood recalled. Oyster shell planting has helped to restore that ecosystem, he said.
"We planted around 200,000 bushels (of shell) in Delaware Bay this year on our grounds… and in doing that, Delaware Bay is, as far as I know… the only wild caught fishery that's deemed sustainable," Fleetwood said.
It's yet unclear how many of the restaurants that buy shellfish from Sysco will participate in the recycling program, but LaTourette has high hopes for the collaboration.
The program works to "better manage waste streams and create that circular economy, to improve our water quality, and promote the resilience of our coastal environments," the commissioner said. "Without a vibrant ecosystem in and around our coastal waterways and estuaries… our seafood industry doesn't thrive."
Amanda Oglesby is an Ocean County native who covers education and the environment. She has worked for the Press for more than 17 years. Reach her at @OglesbyAPP, [email protected] or 732-557-5701.