Mineral Fox’s recycled oyster shell wall render uses restaurant shell waste as an aggregate alternative to virgin sand. The material is a world-first and diverts tonnes of shell waste from landfill (circular), supports critical oyster reef restoration projects to improve waterways, is low carbon, non-toxic, and made in Australia. It has been applied to the walls of Arup’s Brisbane office (specified by Hassell) and is currently being applied to more than 7000 sqm of wall area in the Parramatta Powerhouse Museum for Lendlease.

Each year it’s estimated that more than 10 million tonnes of oyster shell waste is dumped globally. Oyster shells are made up of 96% calcium carbonate – almost identical to limestone. Historically, Australia’s waterways (including Sydney Harbour) were abundant with oyster reefs. But these were all but wiped out when oysters were dredged to burn for lime mortar. NGOs around Australia are working to restore these reefs and Mineral Fox are sponsoring this work by sourcing our recycled shells through these programs. Mineral Fox mills the shells in-house and uses them as a virgin aggregate alternative in our natural wall renders – resulting in 20% of the aggregate being a recycled and carbon-storing material (oysters sequester carbon to grow their shells with carbon comprising 12% of their mass). Our recycled oyster shell render is the first of its kind globally and is specified on many high end commercial projects both in Australia and internationally – providing an important end of life solution oyster shells.

Photography by David Chatfield