Town’s Shell Recycling Program Continues

In July of 2022, the Town of Oyster Bay announced that they were implementing a shell recycling initiative to strengthen the local marine environment.

According to a press release, under this program the town seeks partnerships with local restaurants and other entities to collect oyster and clam shells from dinner plates and kitchen preparation tables. Town aqua-culturists regularly pick up the shells from the local partners and deliver them to an environmental curing facility. And once ready for deposit into waterways, the shells will be strategically placed at the bottom of local Oyster Bay and Cold Spring harbors.

“The shells from your dinner plate provide an excellent source of habitat for young shellfish to grow as they offer protection from predators and weather conditions,” said Town of Oyster Bay Supervisor Joseph Saladino. “My administration is committed to improving water quality, expanding the shellfish population and bettering our environment. This Oyster and Clam Shell Recycling initiative expands upon our ongoing efforts by recruiting local restaurateurs to recycle their shell-waste and better our harbor.”

Shellfish are essential mollusks in the local marine environment as they filter water through their feeding mechanisms. A single adult oyster can filter up to 50 gallons of seawater per day, making shellfish Mother Nature’s most valuable marine cleansers. Studies indicate that by expanding shellfish populations in local harbors we can improve water quality for generations to come.

The program also benefits restaurants as it helps them achieve compliance requirements with the New York State Food Donation and Scraps Recycling Law while also reducing waste carting expenses. Local business owners could also potentially receive a tax incentive, currently under review in New York State.

Restaurants that are currently partnering with the town under this program include Coach Meeting House, Café Al Dente, Cooper Bluff, Fox Hollow, Lessing’s Food Service Management, Scotto Brothers, Rare 650, Anthony Scotto Restaurants, Opus Steakhouse, Wild Honey, The Homestead, Popei’s, Patrizia’s and Schultzy’s Restaurant and Raw Bar.

“This Oyster and Clam Shell Recycling initiative brings the entire community together to help restore shellfish populations in Oyster Bay and Cold Spring harbors by providing habitat for shellfish and other marine species, improve water quality, and restoring local food supply,” said Councilwoman Vicki Walsh. “It’s a win-win for the community and our environment.”

Bill Bleyer, president of Friends of the Bay, which works to protect the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Estuary and the surrounding watershed, said that the town launched a shellfish collection operation in July 2022. Friends of the Bay had been suggesting that the town create a program several years prior to that.

In October 2022 the town said it collected more than 3 tons at the Oyster Festival. Prior to that collected shells were sent to the town of Hempstead’s recycling program.

“The program has been taking off and we are helping to promote it and the town has been reaching out and expanding it, so it seems like it’s growing pretty well,” Bleyer said. “Hopefully in the next year, they will tart putting the shells back in Oyster Bay Harbor.”

The shells go to the Old Bethpage Landfill site to be cured, because they should not be thrown back into the water without being cured by the air and the sun for a year to prevent the spread of pathogens.

Once placed into the water, the shells provide oysters with a solid surface to grow on.

“To thrive spat needs to settle on a hard surface like oyster shells,” Bleyer said. “If it’s muddy and soft, young oysters can be smothered.

Programs like this are necessary, as the local oyster population has seriously dwindled.

“The population has really cratered and there’s almost no oysters left in the bay, very little commercial harvest and there’s various possible explanations: one is overharvesting,” Bleyer said. “There’s the rising water temperatures, because the oysters have a temperature they’re comfortable in and the water temperatures all around the world are getting hotter.”

In addition to this shell recycling program, the town, joined by other local municipalities, has also partnered with Oyster Bay/ Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee to implement an oyster gardening program.

“Since 2017 the North Shore Oyster Gardening program, a project led by the Oyster Bay/ Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee, has trained, equipped, and supported hundreds of volunteers raising oysters to enhance our local waters, not for consumption,” a press release from the town read. “Each volunteer, family, or organization sponsors and tends to one or more “oyster gardens” which are cages containing up to 1,000 oysters. The gardens are hung between buoys at one of four community gardens in Oyster Bay and Cold Spring Harbor. Volunteers support every aspect of the program from building the cages in April and May to bi-weekly cleaning and measuring of the oysters from June – September. During this time under the care of the dedicated volunteers the oysters grow from 12-14 mm in size (about the size of your pinky nail) to over 70 mm (slightly less than three inches).”

Rob Crafa, the coordinator of the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Protection Committee, had remarked that it was inspiring to see the enthusiasm and dedication of community members as they tended to the oysters once a week.

“Their efforts have supported grants to monitor the existing spawner sanctuary and locate new ones, investigations to determine pollution sources impacting our beaches and shellfish beds and initiation of similar programs in Hempstead and Huntington/ Northport harbors,” Crafa said.

Saladino said it’s been very important to join with the Oyster Bay/Cold Spring Harbor Committee to make the environmental initiative of oyster gardening in Oyster Bay’s waters a reality.

“This bay is one of the finest resources any where in America,” Saladino said. “When people like Billy Joel could live anywhere in the world and they choose Oyster Bay to live, doesn’t that speak volumes? So in our town and working along with our villages, we will continue to strive to protect the beautiful harbor and improve our quality of water.”

—Submitted by the Town of Oyster Bay. Additional reporting by Jennifer Corr