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Contact: Patricia Smith CORRECTION: Corrects date in second graph. WAKE COUNTY CREATES 12 NEW OYSTER SHELL RECYCLING SITES MOREHEAD CITY – Raleigh-area residents will soon have 12 new places to dump their used oyster shells and help the environment at the same time. Wake County Solid Waste and the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will create oyster shell recycling drop-off areas at all 11 county waste convenience centers and the county’s landfill in Apex on June 25, starting at 9 a.m. The first installation will be at the Landfill Station Gate site at 6025 Old Smithfield Road, Apex. The drop-off centers will be the most recent additions to a growing number of spots in North Carolina where the public can help reduce the landfill waste flow and restore oyster reefs by recycling oyster shells. People can recycle other calcium-based shells, such as clams or mussels, too. “Wake County is proud to support the Division of Marine Fisheries in its efforts to rebuild oyster shell beds off the North Carolina coast” said Tommy Esqueda, Environmental Services director for Wake County. “The county aims to be a leader in the state by providing convenient and efficient oyster shell collection service for its citizens and businesses.” Division of Marine Fisheries’ Director Louis Daniel said he is pleased with the program’s expansion into Wake County. “Not only is it a great opportunity to enhance our recycling efforts, I hope it will bring greater visibility to this important program west of Interstate 95,” Daniel said. Wake County restaurants produce the highest volume of shells of any county in the state. In 2008, the program collected more than 5,000 bushels of shells from four Wake County oyster bars participating in a pilot project that ended in November 2008. This project will provide a way for these restaurants to re-join the recycling efforts, and allow other businesses and the public to drop off their discarded shells. Wake County will maintain its 12 sites, collect the shells and stockpile them for the state Division of Marine Fisheries to pick up once a year. “I hope this initiative will help encourage other counties, as well as private entities, to participate,” said Sabrina Varnam, the state agency’s Oyster Shell Recycling coordinator. “The state cannot continue to expand this program without support from local governments.” Oyster shells collected through the program are placed back in North Carolina coastal waters to provide a place for baby oysters to attach and grow. Oysters are not just a food source for humans, birds and fish. They clean pollutants from the water. Oyster reefs also provide habitat for baby fish and other marine life. When oysters spawn, the larvae need a hard substrate on which to attach and grow. And oysters prefer to attach to shell material. For years, the state has used oyster shells in oyster rehabilitation programs, primarily purchasing the shells from oyster shucking operations. However, as demand for oyster shells has increased, so has the cost. The Oyster Shell Recycling Program started in the fall of 2003 to establish public places where people could donate their shells. The program has grown from collecting 711 bushels of oyster shells in 2003 to more than 32,000 bushels in 2007. More than 86,700 bushels have been collected since the program’s inception. For information on oyster shell recycling in Wake County, contact Environmental Program Coordinator Lowell Shaw at (919) 518-0273. |