Oysters – sweet and fresh from the Chesapeake – are wonderful. Just as wonderful is helping to restock the waters with more oysters. Now you can do that when you recycle the oyster shells and make a home for the next generation of Barren Island, Skinny Dipper, or Choptank Sweets.

Baltimore City Department of Public Works (DPW) has teamed with the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP) to offer oyster shell recycling at DPW’s Northwest Citizens’ Convenience Center at 2840 Sisson Street. Rather than throw out oyster shells with the trash, Baltimore residents may take them to Sisson Street and leave them in one of the recycling bins set out by ORP.

The non-profit will collect the shells when the bins get full, and make sure they reach the University of Maryland Horn Point Oyster Hatchery in Cambridge. That’s where the shells are cleaned and turned into homes for the next generation of Chesapeake Bay oysters.

“I’m proud that we’re able to work with citizens and the Oyster Recovery Project to return oyster shells to the Chesapeake Bay,” said DPW Director Rudy S. Chow, P.E. “It’s a great win for oysters and the Bay, as well as for citizens trying to do the right thing and recycle.”

Restaurants and other commercial food service enterprises have been able to use ORP’s shell recycling station at the Citizens’ Convenience Center at 6101 Bowley’s Lane. But Baltimore residents Stuart and Brian Katzenberg, brothers with a taste for oysters, thought the general public needed convenient oyster shell recycling options to responsibly dispose the remnants of their oyster feasts.

Working with Councilwoman Mary Pat Clarke, DPW and ORP devised a recycling station at the Sisson Street yard. Three bins have been set up for residents to utilize, and the service is free. Stuart Katzenberg said he’s happy citizens now have a convenient location in the City where the shells can be reused.

Oyster season in Maryland runs October through March, but restaurants and seafood stores can get oysters from colder waters in New England and Canada to keep the tasty bivalves on plates into the summer.

As of Tuesday, May 31, the hours of operation at Bowleys Lane and Sisson Street, along with the Western Citizens’ Convenience Center at 701 Reedbird Avenue, extend by two hours until 7 p.m., Monday through Saturday. The centers open at 9 a.m.