In honoring the Long Beach Township Oyster Shell Recycling Program with an award for leadership last year, the state Department of Environmental Protection described the initiative, which diverts oyster shells from restaurants to an oyster reef in Little Egg Harbor Bay, as “innovative.”

As word of the program’s success spread, the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City was inspired to establish its own shell recycling program in cooperation with the DEP’s Marine Fisheries Administration, as…