“These products made from shellfish waste are the result of a five-year investigation into Circular Economy to provide a solution to an environmental problem in Galicia,” Sergio Quiroga, CEO of the company, highlights in a statement, who predicts that “mussel shell waste could now be recycled in a viable and sustainable way.” Sand sea, which is what it is called, is already sold in Gadisa establishments.

The canning companies of Galicia generate around 90,000 tons of mussel shells each year. “The environmental impact is evident if the treatment of these natural wastes is not correct,” says Quiroga. Ecocelta, together with representatives of the canning sector and mollusk purification plants, began a project in 2017 that served to develop the Celtacal Method, a sustainable and local process of management of the shell of mollusks that had the support of the Galician Innovation Agency ( GAIN) through the InnovaPeme program. This research allowed the development of a biofertilizer called Celtacal, registered in 2019, the first organic liming fertilizer registered in the world made with mussel shell as raw material.

Almost 6 million cats in Spain

In Spain there are almost six million registered cats. AND Each cat consumes an average of 200 kilos of hygienic bedding per year.. “By processing all the residual mussel shells in Galicia, sand could be produced for 375,000 cats,” calculates Sergio Quiroga, who highlights that “an environmental problem would be solved by only meeting the demand generated by 6.5% of the entire system’s expenses.” Spanish territory”.