Blame corporations for applying obscene amounts of salts to prevent liability issues. The place I used to work at would put down so much everyday it was like walking on rocks. The entire sidewalk and parking lot.
The building I work in…. It’s literally like walking on a crunchy field of crystals.
Cement is starting to erode away.
Curious, do they use Sodium Chloride or Magnesium Chloride or something else?
When I lived in Calgary they used beet juice and it worked fine.
Calgary is semi-arid. Beet juice would not work in a place like Ontario. Too much ice!
From what i found its beet juice mixed with salt brine. Not as bad as normal ice melt apparently.
https://www.backyardboss.net/beet-juice-ice-melt/
Though I’m sure this isn’t great for the environment either.
The sugars lower the freezing point of the ice so the salt works better but it still needs salt.
In Quebec they use sand, I don’t see why that can’t just be done here, it’s not like it’s a major change to the equipment or anything.
I’ve seen gravel used more than sand in Quebec. Same problems though. Bonus points is you get to eat shit in spring while skateboarding.
Be a heathen like me and push mongo and you’ll never eat shit from stones ever again. LOL
It can, they often use it
Sand doesn’t melt ice but it provides traction; too much and it’s slippery again, too little and it does nothing
If you have a busy road where it’s constantly being moved around as well as melting and freezing again then it’s not ideal
The dirt also has to be cleaned up
The dirt also has to be cleaned up
You mean the dirt CAN be cleaned up. This is a pro, not a con. The salt also needs to be cleaned up, and it’s a LOT harder.
Water washes salt away better (and into our streams), it’s easier on our pipes
Fair.
Doesn’t sound like there’s a great solution overall.
Imagine if we were crazy enough to heat the streets from underground.
Shifting away from car dependancy would reduce overall traffic and make sand more useable and reduce total salt used when salt is still needed.
