Eco Emma: Environmentally friendly ice melt alternatives
January 22, 2020
As the Omaha winter gets colder and icier, residents and city officials will be putting ice melt on streets and sidewalks. These chemical ice melts are often extremely dangerous to pets and wildlife, and more eco-friendly options need to be used.
The main ingredient in many of these ice melts is chloride, whether in the form of salt or brine. This chemical alone and in the amount used in ice melts poses a great threat to our four-legged friends.
Chloride ice melts have been known to cause kidney failure. If your dog goes on a walk then licks their paws, they can digest the ice melt that’s been sprinkled on sidewalks or sprayed on the street.
It’s likely that this phenomenon also occurs for wild animals, such as opossums and racoons. Though they can seem like pests, these animals are vital to the Omaha ecosystem, eating insects and detritus.
Of course, we can’t just get rid of all slip-stopping materials. The nature of the Nebraska winter is black ice and bruised bottoms. So, what else can we use to stop wipeouts but that’s friendlier to the environment?
There are salt-free deicers that don’t contain chloride, though they can be pricy, and they aren’t necessarily natural or organic. The ultimate natural alternative is sand.
Sand, ash and gravel has been used since before electric lights were invented. While it won’t melt the ice or snow on your driveway, it will prevent falls. The grit of these materials provide traction on your shoes and tires.
These alternatives won’t harm pets or animals and are non-corrosive. After all, sand, gravel and ash are naturally occurring. They’re also cheaper than most ice melts; a 50-pound bag of sand is less than four dollars at Home Depot and a similar bag of pea gravel is just under five dollars. If you still have ash in your fireplace, that can be collected and used as traction as well.
Often, we search for modern solutions to our problems. However, I believe we should step back and take a low-tech path to less icy paths. We don’t need chemical melts; simple sand will do.