New Jersey Exceeds Goals for Shell Recycling Program Expansion

The Takeaway: A program to rescue discarded oyster shells is helping revive wild populations—a win for resilient shellfish and shorelines.

Despite rising water temperatures, disease, and other challenges, an oyster reef in New Jersey’s Mullica River holds fast as one of the last self-sustaining populations along the state’s Atlantic coast. Historically abundant on the East Coast, oysters have experienced a major decline in the last century, but a few resilient reefs provide hope for recovery. New Jersey coastal partners are giving these remarkable shellfish a boost through a shell recycling program that was recently expanded with a more-than-$1.2-million NOAA grant.

A juvenile oyster growing on a recycled shell. Oyster larvae attached to a hard surface are known as spat. Credit: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

New Jersey’s restaurant and shellfish industries depend on healthy oyster populations to ensure sustainable supply year after year. Besides being great for business, oysters provide many benefits for the entire coastal community. Approximately 2.5 acres of oyster reef can provide up to $99,000 worth of ecosystem services every year through shoreline stabilization, storm protection, and improved water quality.

Recognizing the value of healthy oyster populations, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and partners have long worked to enhance oyster habitat. In 2019, they launched a shell recycling and oyster reef restoration program in collaboration with the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City. Now, the new grant has allowed New Jersey to successfully expand the recycling program to three coastal counties—a significant step toward restoring the state’s wild oysters.

Bright green bins full of oyster shells are loaded into a mechanized trailer.

Each week, the shell recycling program collects leftover shells from drop-off sites and participating restaurants. Credit: New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection

Recycled shells support new life

An oyster’s life cycle starts adrift in the water as free-swimming larvae. As they grow, the larvae must find a hard surface to settle on, like the shells of other oysters. That is where the shell recycling program comes in. Rather than tossing empty oyster shells in the trash where they contribute to landfill waste, restaurant partners save them in specially marked bins to be collected, cleaned, and cured in the sun before returning them to the river.

A person uses a water cannon to spray piles of shells into the river from the back of a barge

An NJDEP Fish & Wildlife staff member uses a high-powered water cannon to spray oyster shells off the barge into the water. Credit: Justine Lundsted/NOAA

Each summer during oyster spawning season, NJDEP staff haul tons of the recovered shells on a barge to specially chosen sites in the Mullica River. They use a high-pressure water cannon to blast the shells into the brackish water where the shells then settle at the bottom to become habitat for newly hatched oysters.

Through the program expansion, partners will work to increase shell collection and add 10 more acres to the existing Mullica River oyster reefs, strengthening oyster reef resilience and New Jersey’s coastal economy. In addition to collecting discarded oyster shells from restaurant partners, the program is also getting residents involved through public shell drop-off locations and environmental education programs for local schools.

Starting strong

The project has already surpassed the program’s initial goals. In its first year, the coastal program and partners:

Added 20 participating restaurants across Atlantic, Cape May, and Ocean Counties, exceeding the original goal of 15.
Installed three new public shell drop-off locations in Ocean City, Atlantic City, and Lakewood, New Jersey.
Planted 26,087 bushels of shells across eight acres in the Mullica River–Great Bay estuary, exceeding the yearly target of 25,000 bushels and breaking the program’s previous planting record of about 10,000 bushels.

A small boat pulls a barge loaded with a large pile of shells. Staff use a water cannon to spray shells into the water. — Project team staff operate a water cannon to distribute oyster shells across the project area. Credit: Justine Lundsted/NOAA

The success of the program has drawn local and national interest, prompting a new partnership between the department and Sysco to further expand the shell recycling program. Through this partnership, Sysco, the world’s largest food distributor, will collect discarded oyster and clam shells from restaurants it serves across the region. Sysco’s collection efforts will significantly broaden the program, making participation accessible to many restaurants and businesses across the state that are currently beyond the program’s reach. 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 shells will also allow the department to expand reef enhancement work to other areas with hopes of creating reef habitat connectivity across the state’s coastal waters.

Program staff will continue recruiting restaurant partners and streamlining shell collection to meet their goal of planting 25,000 bushels of shells each year. Over time they will monitor the water quality and health of the oyster populations at the shell planting sites, ensuring that wild oysters have a chance to flourish in New Jersey waters once again.

This work is supported with funding from NOAA’s National Coastal Zone Management Program Habitat Protection and Restoration awards. (2025)

Federal Funding: $1,271,506

Partners: NOAA Office for Coastal Management, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Fish & Wildlife