Oysters are very much a "love or loathe" type of seafood, but a textile entrepreneur has found a way to encourage us all to love the marine mollusks.
Eddie Wang from Taiwan considered how one interesting use for oyster shells he saw growing up on the country's west coast could have other implications.
"[People] burned the [oyster] shells and painted the residue on the walls," he told Agence France-Presse, as shared by Phys.org. "The houses then became warm in the winter and cool in the summer. So I was curious about why oyster shells have such a miraculous effect."
Wang once made "eco fabric" from recycled plastic bottles, but he switched from this "ordinary" material alone to incorporating oyster shells, creating something called "Seawool."
With over 220,000 tons of oysters harvested in Taiwan every year, around 176,000 tons of shells are discarded, too. That presents a perfect opportunity to reuse the shells, which have typically created foul-smelling waste and encouraged the breeding of mosquitoes — which can result in the spread of vector-borne diseases.
The use of discarded plastic in the creation of Seawool ups its environmental credentials, while Wang detailed that the production process is low-carbon because it doesn't require water.
"It creates a magical yarn," he told AFP. "Oyster shell is a material with low thermal conductivity — it does not absorb heat nor does it dissipate heat."
Wang's Taiwan factory takes 110 tons of oyster shells a year and transforms them into almost 1,000 tons of Seawool, which can then be used to make clothes. According to Seawool's website, the material can protect against both the cold and UV rays from the sun, and it's also soft to the touch.
It's a fascinating innovation, but it's not the only ocean organism that is being used to create material. In Vietnam, recycled shrimp shells are being turned into "leather," which can be used in a range of products and avoids the need for similar material made from cows that is responsible for a lot of pollution — from raising the animals for slaughter to the chemicals used in the tanning process.
Seawool is just one example of how to achieve a circular economy. Reusing oyster shells and plastic stops them from heading to methane-producing landfill sites and helps to create new products from existing materials, so new textiles don't have to be created from scratch.
Supporting brands that promote responsible practices is so important to demonstrate that there is a strong market for sustainable products, which can encourage other companies to engage in environmental protection efforts for a cleaner, safer world.
Who knows, maybe your opinion of oysters might just change when you wear your first Seawool garment.
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