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Have you ever paused to think about where oyster shells end up when you’re enjoying a nice plate of oysters? Compared to the delicious flesh, the shells take up much more space. Instead of being left discarded and continuing to take up space, they could be used for so much more! Find out now, in our special report.

Every day, oyster farmer Chen Cheng-I pulls up his oysters from the pond to get sunlight. This makes it easier to remove algae from the shells and also allows him to check for flatworms.

Chen Cheng-i
Oyster farmer
This is a flatworm. It preys on oysters. Sunlight kills it. The sun also dries out and kills the algae growing on the shells. We don’t want flatworms to eat up the oysters.

Chen is a second-generation oyster farmer. Unlike previous generations farming oysters with racks installed on sea, Chen is experiment with oyster farming with aquaculture ponds. Although this method gives him a smaller yield, the quality ends up much better.

Chen Cheng-i
Oyster farmer
There’s nothing you can do about flatworms at sea, where there are plenty. If you farm oysters on sea, there’s no way for you to spread them out under the sun. But it’s much easier to do these things with ponds. Although the yield is smaller, the quality is relatively better.

Penghu’s oysters are best harvested between Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. Over this period, visitors flock here to enjoy fresh oysters delivered daily. Oyster farmers also pick up waste oyster shells when shipping their goods.

This large, white mound is entirely comprised of oyster shells. This Penghu’s westernmost Xiyu Township. Around 100 tons of waste oyster shells are piled up here every year.

Hsu Kuai-le
Xiyu Township cleaning team
You can’t dispose of oyster shells immediately. They need some washing from the rain and sun-drying. That way, you can get rid of the odor and germs.

The shells need to be exposed to the elements for at least half a year to get cleaned and have the organic matters fully composted. Only then can they be disposed of.

Xiyu isn’t the only place with an oyster shell storage site in Pengu. They’re also in Magong City and Baisha Township. Around 2,000 tons of waste oyster shells are generated in Penghu every year.

The shells actually have more uses than their humble appearance may suggest. They mainly made up of calcium carbonate, which has a wide array of applications in buildings, textiles and packaging. It can also be used as pharmaceutical filler. All these uses are already being applied on Taiwan proper, and Penghu does in fact export clean waste shells to the main island. But there will always be waste shells. Therefore, in 2024, the Penghu Fishery Research Center started running a small-scale processing site.

The shells are fed into a storage tank, then ground up, dried, and packaged by grit size. This NT$3.7 million site in Xiyu can process 30% of all the waste oyster shells in the county, or around 700 tons. The resulting product can then be applied locally.

Hernyi Hsieh
Penghu Fishery Research Center
Over in Taiwan, they use it to improve soil quality or in fertilizers, or in other higher-end applications. There’s already a supply chain around it there, but not in Penghu. So we’re trying to figure out how to turn this material into something useful. It’s not trash. It’s just not given the treatment it deserves.

Here at Lintou Beach, this entire wall looks like it’s made of coral stones, but it’s not. The coral-shaped building blocks are made with molded oyster shell powder. The Penghu Fishery Research Center replicated the look of Penghu’s traditional building material and reduced waste at the same time.

Lu I-lin
Penghu Fishery Research Center
Take this 10kg piece. Around 60% or more of it is oyster shell.

The composition of oyster shells makes them a substitute for cement, reducing the environmental impact of mining. Using them in construction also helps use up a great amount of the shells. However, oyster shells contain chloride, which is corrosive. To use them in construction, the shells must be left in the open for at least half a year. Otherwise, the chloride could eventually compromise the building structure.

Lu I-lin
Penghu Fishery Research Center
Its physical prop
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