Even though the temperature reached the high 60s yesterday, this November has produced a fair amount of snow sprinklings. Most people have retrieved their shovels from the garage, gotten the ice-scraper ready for the car and perhaps purchased some salt to get rid of that pesky ice.

But if you haven’t gotten that salt or ice melt yet, be warned. There are a lot of choices out there, many of which are pretty horrible for our homes and local environments.

Sodium chloride (NaCl), usually known to sit on the kitchen table, is the most common salt used to melt ice on roadways, sidewalks and front steps. Though it’s commonly used, it’s actually not safe for us, our pets and our neighborhoods.

NaCl kills vegetation, hurts our pets’ paws, corrodes cars and bridges, and pollutes water supplies. Though it does melt snow and ice by decreasing their freezing point, there are other alternatives out there that don’t have as many side effects.

Almost all other alternatives – like other salts, acetates and ureas – have side effects, but none are known to be as bad as NaCl. The key is to go to your local hardware store or pet store and check out labels to find the best options for your whole neighborhood, including Fido.

But unless you’re a chemist, reading the labels for the many different ice melt products may seem like you stumbled across an ancient, forgotten language. But don’t fear.

Stay away from NaCl. Other choices may have magnesium chloride (MgCl), which is the safer, less corrosive salt you may want to try out.

Urea is used in some other ice melts. Though it’s a fertilizer that won’t hurt pets’ paws, it is damaging to waterways because it introduces too many nutrients, throwing ecosystems out of sync.

Another common ice melt contains acetates, which are more expensive but widely accepted as less corrosive and damaging than salts. But be weary of this product, too, as recent studies show that potassium acetate, used at many airports for de-icing, may damage aquatic ecosystems.

If you need to buy salt, you should try the least corrosive option: MgCl. When you go to the store, read the labels, understand what you’re buying and think about how changing one purchase could positively affect your home and environment.

Better yet, use ice melts sparingly. You can use other simple, everyday products to provide traction in winter weather. Sand, sawdust and kitty-litter (the non-clumping kind) can make the outdoors walkable and enjoyable. An added bonus is that they are often cheaper than any ice melt you can buy.

But the best advice anyone can give would be to shovel earlier rather than later. By getting the snow off the steps before people create footprints that freeze, or before the snow melts to puddles that freeze at night, you can avoid ice formation altogether.

So shovel that snow and be prepared for ice with more eco-friendly products.

Meg Callaghan is a junior environmental studies major and writing minor at the SUNY-ESF. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at mlcallag@syr.edu.

 

Published on December 5, 2012 at 2:59 am