UPDATE on Beet Juice and Ice Melt Products

The ice melt industry is enormous. We spend less time discerning between ice melting choices than we do selecting between the crispness of a Granny Smith or the sweetness of a Macintosh. It snows. We need to clear the driveway. We go to the store, buy the ready Rock Salt and go home. 

Throwing money away on what will wash away feels ludicrous. So given Rock Salt’s low cost effectiveness to disperse snow and ice it reigns as the deicer de facto. And as my neighbor cited last week while walking her dog, “the white stuff is everywhere.” It seemingly lasts forever. When day is done, it washes away and off into our streams and waterways. Salt kills vegetation and can kill fish; it contaminates drinking water, is corrosive to sidewalk concrete and harmful to pets’ paws. 

Statistics provide that 8-12 million tons of salt and blended components are spread across our byways and highways each winter. Non-point-source pollution (such as ice melt) transport hydrocarbons, pathogens and sediment scoured from road surfaces, contaminating groundwater and surface-water supplies through stormwater runoff.

This week, I've been reading about beet sugar and corn extract as inhibitors to the dangers inherent in rock salt while increasing its effectiveness. Until these extracts are available for market consumption we need to promote the use of green alternatives to diminish the negative impacts of saltine products on our lawns, walkways and transportation surfaces migrating to our watersheds and ultimately The Chesapeake Bay. 

Greener Components

Potassium chloride and magnesium chloride do not harm plants, although they have a lasting negative impact on the environment.

Urea and/or coated urea or carbonyl diamide is promoted as a green ice melt. While it is less hazardous to children and pets it still releases nitrates into our waterways, it also contains fertilizer.

NOTE!  Use of fertilizer as ice melting agents on sidewalks and driveways is now against Maryland Law: fertilizer will likely end up washing off into our street’s storm drains and promote the lake affects of nitrogen-induced algae bloom; that in due course endangers Chesapeake Bay plants and wildlife. 

 As shoppers with consumer savvy of package components indexes, let’s ramp up our perspectives on the ingredients vs. the product claims on ice melting derivatives. Consider the better/best products before tossing a ten pounder of rock salt into the cart. Lowes and Home Depot stock “green,” and products are available on-line. Run a search on product terms for green, eco-friendly and environmentally safe to enable healthier ice melt purchases. And be sure to insist on the same from your lawn and maintenance companies.