Recycle Your Empties

Empty oyster shells, that is:

...But the oyster restoration effort also needs your help, especially securing old oyster shells. Young oysters need to attach themselves to existing shells. But shells are getting scarce. That’s where you come in.

Both CBF, ORP and now Anne Arundel County run programs to collect oyster shells for re-use. Many shells come from restaurants. But individuals can contribute their leftovers (just shells please, no cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie).

Here are links for information about where you can drop off your shells near Annapolis.
Anne Arundel County recycling convenience centers in Millersville, Glen Burnie and Sudley.

• CBF’s Save Oyster Shell program
• ORP’s collection sites near Annapolis are: 1) the Annapolis Maritime Museum, 723 2nd Street, Annapolis, 2) Oyster Recovery Partnership Office, 1805 Virginia Street, Annapolis, 3) W.H. Harris Seafood, 425 Kent Narrow Way North, Grasonville.

Oyster shells are one of the few examples where trash being thrown in to the bay is actually beneficial.  In the rare event we get oysters in the shell, we generally throw the shells back in to the bay off the harbor.  I'm fairly sure they mostly get covered with sand, but who knows, maybe an somewhere is growing on a shell I threw out.