The Nature Conservancy teams up with Beau Rivage and MGM Resorts for oyster shell recycling place

Oysters are a staple food here on the Mississippi Coast, but the next time you enjoy some you may want to hang onto those shells.

That’s because Beau Rivage and MGM are taking oyster shells from their restaurants and using them to replenish oyster reefs along the Mississippi Coast.

On Tuesday morning more than 22 tons of oyster shells were dumped at the Tony Trapani Reef.

Over 9,000 pounds of shells came from the Beau Rivage with the rest being trucked in from MGM’s Las Vegas properties.

Beau Rivage Director of Communications Mary Cracchiolo said, “MGM Resorts, the Beau Rivage, The Nature Conservancy and other partners have worked together to start the Save Our Shells program. The idea is to start an oyster shell recycling program Coast wide and put those oysters shells in oyster reefs and restore the oyster habitat here on the Gulf Coast. We know we’ve had a lot of depleted oyster reefs so it’s a team effort to get these recycled shells in the water spawning new oysters. We know that one oyster shell can create ten new oysters so it’s a huge opportunity to rebuild our coastline.”

The shells were donated through The Nature Conservancy who will continue to collect oyster shells to build and repair reefs for years to come.