Between 2007 and 2024, Florida attempted to rebuild the Gulf of Mexico’s ecosystem in an unusual way: dumping over 500,000 tons of recycled oyster and clam shells straight back into the water. 

These shells were gathered from seafood restaurants (quite literally scraped off of plates) as well as seafood plants. So essentially, a massive amount of sinking, rotting garbage was supposedly going to bring the struggling sandy seafloors back to life. 

Understandably, the idea was met with criticism 

Some called it reckless dumping. Others warned it would be detrimental to an already dwindling ecosystem. And for a while, these concerns seemed valid. Even the researchers running this giant experiment had their doubts as no visible progress was initially seen.

But beneath the surface, those scrapped shells immediately got to........

© Upworthy