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 cost effectiveness to disperse snow and ice it reigns as the deicer de facto. And as my neighbor sighted this morning walking her dog, the “white stuff is everywhere.” It seemingly lasts forever. When the 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 reveal that 8-12 million tons of salt and blended components are spread across our byways and highways each winter. 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 that eventually migrate to The Chesapeake Bay.
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Greener Alternatives in ascending order: Potassium chloride and magnesium chloride do not harm plants, although they have a lasting negative impact on the environment.
Urea or carbonyl diamide is promoted as a green ice melt. While it is less hazardous it still releases nitrates into our waterways. Nitrates deplete oxygen in the water and kill fish. Now that’s an inviting picture.
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The better/best urea product is called Coated Urea, a carbonyl diamide and glycol mixture. The glycol mixture restrains the release of nitrogen into the waterways and is less hazardous to children and pets.
As shoppers with consumer savvy of package component 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. Run a search on product terms for green, eco-friendly and environmentally safe to enable healthier ice melt purchases!
