Nonprofit plans Mississippi oyster shell recycling program

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — An environmental group is using BP oil spill money to plan Mississippi’s first oyster shell recycling program. Other states including Louisiana, Alabama and New York have programs that collect empty shells from restaurants and other venues and build coastal reefs with them. The Nature Conservancy says in a news release that Mississippi’s Gulf Coast generally has plenty of oyster larvae, but needs more hard surfaces where they can attach themselves and grow into oysters. Oyster reefs also attract other types of marine life and slow waves that erode coastlines. The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality is backing the project with $650,000 from Clean Water Act fines paid after the spill in 2010.