Oysters destined for Hong Kong’s landfills find new use as building material
- Two hotels join forces with cement manufacturer to source limestone from shellfish and reduce carbon emissions tied to conventional production
Two Hong Kong hotels have partnered with a local manufacturer to create cement that uses limestone derived from oysters instead of extracting it from the ground in what is being called a pioneering effort to introduce renewable resources into one of the most carbon-intensive industries.
Eaton and Langham hotels joined forces with Hong Kong’s sole major cement producer, Green Island Cement, to collect eight tonnes of oyster shells and turn them into building material, according to Amie Lai Gor, the general manager of sustainability at the hotels’ parent company Great Eagle Holdings.
The project allowed them to source 80 per cent of the limestone needed to make cement from oysters.
Speaking to the press on Friday, Lai said she was inspired by studies and journal papers about reusing oyster shells, which are 91 per cent limestone, and wanted to do “a bit more beyond laboratory scale”.
“We brought together like-minded partners to repurpose oyster shells as a sustainable alternative raw material for cement production,” she said. “Our goal is to encourage more hotels and restaurants to participate, diverting more discarded oyster shells from landfills through upcycling.”
Cement and concrete production generates as much as 9 per cent of all human activity carbon dioxide emissions, making it the world’s third-largest contributor to global warming.
The planet-heating substance is produced during the excavation of limestone and the use of coal to convert it into quicklime.
