RecyclingMonster - Santa Rosa County kicked off their "Offer your Shell for Restoration" oyster recycling program.
Participating restaurants like the Shrimp Basket in Milton give the county their shells to be recycled and made into artificial reefs.
"Our locations goes through about 12 cases that about 100 shells a week that we just throw away," said Marissa Talbert, manager at the Shrimp Basket.
Instead of going to the landfill the shells will hopefully help restore oyster's natural habitat in Santa Rosa County waterways.
"It's taking something that could be trash and recycling it and reusing it to become a part of the environment," said Reggie Miller with Conversation Corp of the Emerald and Forgotten Coast.
This new recycling program is an initiative by Santa Rosa County and the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agriculture Sciences Extension with the help of the Conversation Corp of the Emerald Coast. The program is funded through "RESTORE" funds made available as a result of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill.
So far crews have collected over 1,500 pounds of oysters shells. In six months they will begin building the artificial reefs.
"We take that dry and clean oyster shell and we use it create oyster reefs which act as a natural barrier reef on the shore," Miller said.
The artificial reefs will not only provide a healthy habitat for oysters but also for other organisms in the water.
"It's not only helping the generation today by making less trash and less waste, it's helping future generations because they will have that to look back on," Miller said.
Three restaurants in Santa Rosa County are participating in the program, The Shrimp Basket in Milton and Navarre and Cutting Board in Milton.