The idea that one man’s trash is another man’s treasure may turn out to be more than a cliché for Maine’s lobster industry.

Every year the shells from millions of pounds of lobster processed in Maine each year heads for landfills and compost. A group called Lobster Unlimited LLC aims to turn that waste into an organic repellent to fend off pests.

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The Lobster Institute’s Cathy Billings hopes if more demand is created for the parts of the lobster that are now discarded, fishermen may benefit. Shutterstock.com photo

The Lobster Unlimited team is developing a product that transforms ground lobster shells into an organic pelletized soil amendment – any material added to improve soil quality – for use by large commercial agricultural growers and golf courses.

“It could be a real win if you don’t have this cost of doing business, and you’re adding value,” said Dr. Bob Bayer, executive director of the Lobster Institute at the University of Maine, the founding partner of Lobster Unlimited.

The project could be a boon for the 13 companies that process lobster in Maine. Shell disposal can be a chronic and expensive headache. Traditionally most of the shells have gone to landfills and compost. But getting them hauled away can cost the lobster processors up to $50,000 a year, to say nothing of what ensues if the truck delivery is missed, the flies start to swarm, and the odor gets bad enough to prompt complaints from the neighbors.

Cathy Billings, associate director of the Lobster Institute, who is also involved in the effort, said the hope is that any commercial success would give an economic lift to the entire lobstering industry.

“We’d like to see it trickle down to the fishermen, to bring more value to their landings,” she said. “If more demand is created for these other components of the lobster, and these byproducts become valuable, they could be more or as valuable as the meat and a huge boon to everyone in the industry.”

The initiative grew from a collaboration between Bayer, Billings, UMaine senior Matthew Hodgkin, New York entrepreneur Stewart Hardison, North Carolina engineering consultant Ron Reed, and Mark Elizer, president of Calcium Silicate Corporation, Inc. a Lake Harbor, Florida, company that creates organic fertilizer for golf courses.

Earlier this year, the group started getting shell waste from Cape Seafood of Saco to start testing the product.

To be sure, lobster shells have been used for fertilizer and compost for years. Ocean Organics, based in Waldoboro, uses the shells in its organic fertilizers. Coast of Maine Organic Products of Portland uses them in a variety of products, including its potting soil and its popular Quoddy Blend compost.

Lobster shells contain calcium that can help build healthy plant walls. As the lobster shells break down over four to six months, a substance called chitin is released, which acts as a binder and makes the plant stronger and healthier, said Cameron Bonsey, Coast of Maine’s director of marketing.

“It’s pretty powerful stuff,” Bonsey said.

The company composted 7,500 cubic yards of lobster shells in the last year, more than ever, as demand for its Quoddy Blend has climbed, and more lobster processors came online in Maine. In the last few years, more processors have opened in Maine. Bonsey said they work with processors to share costs of hauling, because they want to ensure a consistent supply.

“We want a consistent supply of lobster shells to make it economically feasible for the processors as possible so we can count on a certain supply every year,” Bonsey said.

Much of the company’s growth in recent years has been driven by demand for its lobster compost, he said. It’s been so strong that Bonsey has incorporated “The Lobster Compost Company” into its advertising.

“We’re doing something good for the environment by taking a marine residual and composting it,” he said. “And people love that whole connection to Maine, to the fishermen, and to buying local.”

Whereas compost is used to fertilize the soil, with added benefits of repelling certain pests, the main purpose of the soil amendment Lobster Unlimited is developing is to repel pests, such as nematodes, wormlike creatures that can attack plants. Any fertilizing effects would be a side benefit, Billings said.

Making the shells into pelletized granules makes it easier to spread in farm fields, golf courses and big landscaping projects, Hardison said.

The pellets dissolve at a controlled rate with water, distributing the chitin and bacteria into the root zone of the planting, Reed said. Since Lobster Unlimited’s product would be biodegradeable, it would help reduce the load of artificial pesticides that run off from turf, golf courses and farms into waterways, he added.

Researchers at the University of Florida Extension Service are testing the system, Reed said.

If it succeeds, the group estimates it could pay processors up to $100 per ton for the ground shells, and generate about $50,000 in revenues for a processor, above and beyond anything they’d save in shell removal costs, Hardison said.

The group is also looking into potential cosmetic and pharmaceutical uses for the hemolyph – the lobster blood, which is currently thrown away.

Bayer has long been interested in finding new uses for lobster and lobster waste. He has worked with several graduate students in food science over the years to develop value-added food products such as lobster ravioli and other shell-based pastas.

In 2011, Bayer worked with University of Maine scientist David Neivandt to develop a biodegradable golf ball made from lobster shells. A patent is pending on the product, and they’re still trying to identify the right company to help launch it, said Kris Burton, University of Maine’s director of technology commercialization.

Jennifer Van Allen can be contacted at 791-6313 or at:

jvanallen@pressherald.com

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