Summer in New England means lobster rolls, fried seafood and, of course, freshly shucked oysters.

But there’s a problem. Those empty shells usually end up in a dumpster instead of back in the water, where they play a key role in the oyster life cycle. Oyster larvae attach to shells, where they grow into adults and form reefs that improve water quality, prevent coastal erosion and create habitat for other marine life.

Two men in Connecticut are working to fix that. They’ve started a statewide program to collect discarded shells from local restaurants, dry them and return them to Long Island Sound for restoration projects.

“We fill that missing piece,” said Tim Macklin, a co-founder of Collective Oyster Recycling & Restoration, the nonprofit leading the effort.

It’s one of several shell recycling programs that have emerged to help reverse the steep decline in oyster populations along U.S. coastlines, a drop that experts largely attribute to overharvesting, habitat degradation and disease. Some of the largest programs process more than 1 million pounds of shell each year.

The Connecticut group is smaller but growing. In 2024, it collected about 375,000 pounds of shell. This year, working with about 50 restaurants and a commercial seafood supplier, it is on track to surpass 400,000 pounds, with plans to expand.

What further sets its effort apart is that it’s essentially a two-man operation. Unlike larger programs that rely on volunteers, most of the day-to-day work falls to Macklin and Todd Koehnke, who founded the project with Eric Victor, who is retired but lends a hand occasionally.

Macklin, 51, and Koehnke, 50, fell into oyster shell recycling about a decade ago. They were members of a local shellfish commission surprised to learn that Connecticut, unlike other coastal states, did not have a robust shell recycling program. On weekends, they would voluntarily stop by restaurants to collect discarded shells, hoping to one day turn their efforts into something bigger.

That opportunity arrived in 2023 when they secured a $400,000 state grant. They also received funding from grant-making programs focused on Long Island Sound. Macklin, who worked in television production, and Koehnke, who worked in beverage can recycling, left their full-time jobs. Victor came partially out of retirement to help. They bought a truck and trailer and recruited restaurants, which participate in the program free of charge.

The process is simple but labor-intensive. Collective Oyster Recycling & Restoration supplies 5-gallon screw-top buckets to restaurants for discarded shells, which Macklin and Koehnke pick up once a week.

The shells are transported to a storage site in East Haven, a defunct quarry that’s high, dry and far enough from homes to avoid any odor issues. There, the shells sit exposed to the elements for at least six months to kill any lingering pathogens.

When the weather warms, the shells are returned to the water at designated restoration sites. Most are planted in a state-owned oyster bed off Bridgeport and Stratford that is closed to harvesting.

Oyster larvae can then attach to the shells and develop into mature oysters to help rebuild the habitat.