New York restaurants donate shells to rebuild harbor oyster reefs
The Billion Oyster Project collects discarded shells from 75 New York City restaurants to restore reefs in the harbor. The nonprofit, based on Governor's Island, has planted 28 million live oysters across seven acres since it started. It has diverted over 1,300,000 pounds of shells from landfills. "Oysters are like the greenest form of food production because you don't put any input into the water," acclaimed oyster expert Rowan Jacobsen told ABC News. "They get their food out of the water and clean the water in the process. So it's actually a net positive." The project aims to restore 1 billion oysters across 100 acres by 2035.
Cleaner harbor water benefits New Yorkers and marine life. The reefs remove nitrogen and other pollutants while oysters filter trillions of gallons of water.
Source: How oyster shells from NYC restaurants are recycled to restore reefs (abcnews.com). Spotted via Good News Network.
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