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Jenni Farrow/The Daily Reflector
Starlight oyster chef Matt Jones holds a plate of fresh mussels. Starlight Café officially joined the oyster shell recycling program Wednesday afternoon.
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Sabrina Vernam, oyster shell recycling coordinator with the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, talks about the benefits of recycling oyster shells in Starlight Café on Wednesday afternoon.
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Restaurant to participate in oyster recycling program
By Josh Humphries
The Daily Reflector
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
One of Greenville's busiest restaurants is now on board with a program that will help bolster the oyster population along the coast of North Carolina.
Starlight Café on Wednesday began a partnership with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries to recycle oyster shells from the restaurant's oyster bar.
Oyster chef Matt Jones said Starlight goes through about five bushels a week during the peak winter oyster season.
“We are basically getting involved because we go through so many oysters and I hate to see the shells go into the trash,” Jones said. “This is something we have been interested in for a long time.”
Sabrina Vernam, oyster shell recycling coordinator for the N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries, was in Greenville to get the program at Starlight under way.
The restaurant will deliver its used oyster shells to the Pitt County Solid Waster Transfer Station, one of three places in Pitt County where restaurants and individuals can drop off shells to be recycled.
Oyster shells are collected at the landfill, Port Terminal and Bells Fork collection sites.
“I'm excited about seeing restaurants taking the initiative to get involved,” Vernam said. “I think it is wonderful that people want to be involved. Most restaurants get Gulf state oysters now. With more effort, one day we can provide enough oysters to have North Carolina oysters everywhere.”
Jones said the recycling effort will help in two areas.
“We are all about the local environment and economy and this will help both,” he said.
There are 55 restaurants in the state that work directly with the division to recycle oyster shells. Wimpie's in Winterville also participates in the program.
Since the program began in 2003, more than 85,000 bushels of oysters have been returned to the water off the coast of North Carolina where baby oysters will attach to them and grow.
Marine Fisheries officials collect the oyster shells from sites all over the state and store them near the coast and place them back into the water during the summer when oysters are breeding and it's illegal to harvest them. Oyster season runs from October to March in North Carolina.
Vernam said the division is trying to get as many restaurants in the state involved in the program as possible to continue to help boost the state's oyster populations.
Contact Josh Humphries at jhumphries@coxnc.com or (252) 329-9565.
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Your comments
Cynthia Strain
11/01/2009 09:09:30 AM
This is great, I guess. I just wish they explained better why this program is so important.
Suggest removalBat
10/29/2009 01:34:35 PM
Should have started this program YEARS ago! Let's hope more folks participate.
Suggest removalBarbara Tharp
10/29/2009 12:06:55 PM
I found this article very interesting.I love this resturaunt.Everytime I visit n.c. from California it's the first place I go then next to Parkers or starlight .My favorite.The family want to stay home and visit .Very educational. We must preserve our future and rotate.
Suggest removalYankee Snob
10/29/2009 09:55:40 AM
This is a puff piece attempt to endorse a really mediocre, over-priced restauarant...these food related non-stories, appear in this paper on a regular basis...someone's eating free...
Suggest removalWimpies is the real deal...
C. M. Williams, Jr.
10/29/2009 09:44:31 AM
I am an East Carolina graduate, long time ago, and a native of the Eastern Shore of Virginia, the peninsula between the Atlantic Ocean and the Chesapeake Bay. The seaside (Atlantic) salts are more tasty than the more fresh water bay oysters. An oyster is a different species that a mussel, though I greatly enjoy both. Perhaps the home of the Pirates should promote itself as a seafood (oysters, clams, mussels, (bivalves), hard & softshell crabs & fin fish) town. It would seem a good "fit".
Suggest removalSawdust Needed
10/29/2009 09:36:29 AM
If there's no sawdust on the floor it ain't a "real oyster bar". Hee Hee Hee
Suggest removalTo cj
10/29/2009 09:35:10 AM
I think they are very resonable. Check out their website. They are very nice people and work quickly!!!
Suggest removalcj
10/29/2009 09:33:45 AM
thanks for the tip about Georgies. how are their prices?
Suggest removalcj
10/29/2009 09:31:50 AM
i agree, this seems like yet another example of poor proof reading by the reflector staff. i would think it was meant to read 5 bushels per day. do they have even an editor on staff?
Suggest removalAnother idea
10/29/2009 09:30:39 AM
I have used painted oyster shells for Christmas tree decorations for years. They are great to personalize for those special people. And that's just one idea.
Suggest removalQuestions????
10/29/2009 09:27:33 AM
is it oysters or mussels? Is it just 5 bushels for the whole year? We eat that many with our neighbors every time we have an oyster roast. Have you tried a little place in Belhaven called Georgie's Sport and Oyster Bar? Great food, oysters, shrimp, crab, etc. They even have steaks and hamburgers! They have a great website too. We go at least once a week. These people KNOW seafood!!!
Suggest removalTo Pro Development
10/29/2009 08:51:30 AM
Why complain about something nice? I think people like you and Terry would prefer to live in a Wal Mart-centric police state.
Suggest removalOyster Eater
10/29/2009 08:19:22 AM
Ha! 5 Bushels. I buy and eat 5 bushels over the course of the winter myself! If this was just a free ad for starlight im going to go ahead and plug Washington crab and Oyster Co. They have great oysters and a good price.
Suggest removalTo Pro Development
10/29/2009 08:17:27 AM
I'm sure the DR has misprintd again and the 5 bushels per night not for the season. As far as being newsworthy, it is refreshing to read about something other than crime or politics.
Suggest removalfree advertising?
10/29/2009 08:14:19 AM
What is the point of this article, to advertise Startlight? 5 bushels of oysters shells every season is now being diverted from the landfill!! The cost of transporting this small amount is not worth the pollution from the trucks.
Suggest removalChuck
10/29/2009 08:09:12 AM
Uh, oysters and mussels are two very different critters...
Suggest removalPro Development
10/29/2009 07:29:10 AM
Hope - Did you even read the article?
Suggest removalWhy is this even an article? 5 bushels in the whole winter season is nothing. Put them in the back of your car and drive them to the dump at Port Terminal which has shell recycling. This is not news worthy.
Hope
10/29/2009 07:21:06 AM
I hope Wimpie's in Winterville does this!
Suggest removalPost a Comment
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