Shore Environment

Local Restaurants’ Discarded Oyster Shells to be Repurposed for Reefs Under New N.J. Program

by
Daniel Nee
November 12, 2025

Shells collected and distributed under the NJDEP’s oyster reef partnership with restaurants. (Credit: NJDEP)

Oysters, anyone? After all, they’re going to a good cause.

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection this week announced a new program under which oyster shells that would normally be discarded by local restaurants will be collected, saved, and used to restore habitat in waters across the state.

The partnership was announced with the Sysco Corporation, which will run the program from a seafood distribution facility in Lakewood. The oyster shell program will create opportunities for a “significant expansion of the state’s successful program that uses seafood shells recycled from restaurants for creation of oyster reefs,” the agency said. The reefs can improve the ecological health of coastal waters, reduce waste to landfills, enhance climate resilience and benefit local restaurants.

Sysco, the world’s largest food distributor, will collect discarded oyster and clam shells from restaurants it serves across the region and provide them to the DEP’s Fish & Wildlife’s Shell Recycling Program for oyster reef enhancement projects that could potentially expand to multiple sites along the state’s coastline. It will be based out of the Sysco’s Buckhead Meat & Seafood processing facility located on New Hampshire Avenue in Lakewood. The facility was previously known as the Trinity Seafood company.

Shells collected and distributed under the NJDEP’s oyster reef partnership with restaurants. (Credit: NJDEP)

“Preserving and restoring oyster reefs is not only important for the shellfish themselves but also to the broader marine ecosystem and our communities that rely on this for critical proteins,” said John Yates, president of Buckhead Meat & Seafood’s Mid-Atlantic Region.

According to the DEP, the additional shells will directly result in more planted reefs, which means more available habitat for oyster larvae to settle and grow — leading to greater recruitment, population recovery, and ecosystem benefits. More shell will also allow NJDEP to expand reef enhancement work to other areas, with hopes of creating reef habitat connectivity across the state’s coastal waters. Early in their lifecycle, oyster larvae need to attach to a hard substrate to develop. Clean oyster and clam shells are the preferred substrate. Traditionally, when oysters and clams are served at a restaurant, the discarded shell will be put in the trash and sent to a landfill, meaning shell recycling is a practice that aims to collect what otherwise would be a waste product and beneficially reuse it for oyster reef enhancement efforts.

“Oysters are a keystone species in our local estuaries and are essential to our mission to maintain healthy and productive marine ecosystems,” said NJDEP Fish & Wildlife Assistant Commissioner Dave Golden. “These reefs offer critical habitat for a wide range of recreational and commercially important marine species. By recycling shells, we reduce waste and support the recovery of ecosystems that benefit both marine life and coastal communities.”

Shells collected and distributed under the NJDEP’s oyster reef partnership with restaurants. (Credit: NJDEP)

Despite their importance, shell resources are considered very limited, presenting a challenge to effectively implementing reef enhancement projects. The DEP previously launched a shell recycling program in 2019 that was centered in Atlantic City, where discarded clam and oyster shells from restaurants were collected and reused to enhance local oyster reefs. The program began with a single restaurant partner and was initially focused solely on the Atlantic City region. The program grew quickly to involve nearly every major casino and seafood restaurant in Atlantic City within just a few years.

That program now serves 32 restaurant partners across Atlantic, Cape May, and Ocean counties, significantly increasing shell collection efforts and resulting in more available shell for oyster reef enhancement. Since 2021, more than 45,000 bushels – more than 1,100 tons – of recycled shell along with shell purchased from local processors have been planted onto the reef system.

“I applaud Sysco’s deep commitment in helping us foster a more sustainable and resilient coastal environment,” said Environmental Protection Commissioner Shawn M. LaTourette. “This partnership will not only help to bolster local oyster reefs but also inspires the public to value and protect coastal ecosystems. Oysters filter water, improve water quality, and sequester carbon dioxide through the formation of their shells, helping provide a nature-based solution that addresses both climate adaptation and environmental enhancement.”