How this Gulf Shores restaurant is repurposing used oyster shells to help the ecosystem

GULF SHORES, Ala. ( WKRG ) — The Original Oyster House sells over 3,000 oysters every day, but what happens to those shells at the end of the night?

Thanks to the Alabama Coastal Foundation Oyster Shell Recycling Program, none of the used shells are wasted.

The Oyster House collects the empty shells to put back in the bay. Since 2016, they have recycled over 23 million oyster shells.

“Oyster shells are valuable,” Director of Oyster House Marketing Cecilia Mace said.

The restaurant works with the ACFO to ensure the shells find a new purpose. Repurposing these shells has many benefits for our gulf ecosystem.

“It prevents coastal erosion and bigger than that during hurricane season. And it helps diffuse tidal surge. The stronger the reefs, the better for everybody,” Mace said.

Once the shells are collected from the restaurant, they are put in a large field and are properly cleaned for over six months before being returned to Alabama waters.

When they are ready to return to the water in the summer, baby oysters will cling to the old shells. They will continue to grow until it is time to harvest the shells in the fall.

“This year is the first year that oysters are grown in Little Lagoon will actually go back into Little Lagoon to help restore some of its areas,” Mace said.

Mace said that about 85% of natural oyster reefs are gone, and this program is an effort to rebuild the reefs and help our Gulf’s oyster population.

“I just feel like it’s hope for a future that we’re protecting oysters because we should be,” Mace said.

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