Every day the number of environmentally conscious buyers increases. These buyers are looking to buy earth friendly products for all their needs including snow and ice melting. Are there snow and ice melt products that do not risk damage to the environment?

The above question can be answered only after answering a second question. What is it about snow and ice melt products that is bad for the environment? Two answers surface very quickly:

1) The amount of chlorides (salts) present. Salts accumulate in the environment and can be harmful to plant and animal life when they develop high concentrations. In addition, salts promote corrosion of metals and concrete.

2) The amount of high BOD* ingredients. These ingredients, like phosphates, tend to promote less oxygen in our natural waterways that often leads to fish-kills.

Unfortunately, all commonly available snow and ice melt products contain some combination of the four basic salts (chlorides) and/or fertilizers/urea (high BOD). Therefore, when you purchase an ice melter advertised as “GREEN” or “Earth Friendly”, please be aware that they do cause damage to the environment especially when used excessively. **

Does this mean there are no snow and ice melt products that are completely safe for the environment? Airports have move away from the use of glycol and alcohol for de-icing because of the high BOD issue and will not use any products that contain salts because of the corrosion issue. Today, many airports are using one of the following two products:

1) Potassium acetate (KAc) which is treated with a unique multi-metal corrosion inhibitor package.

2) Calcium magnesium acetate (CMA) which is no more corrosive that water.

Although the above two products are far from affordable by the common consumer, they are nontoxic and do not contain salt or a high BOD, which makes them safe for our environment.

*BOD (Biological Oxygen Demand) is a measure of how fast biological organisms use up oxygen in a body of water. De-icers like glycol or alcohol and fertilizer like potassium chloride or urea have high BOD values.
**For more information on this subject, search “Green Ice Melt Blends Certification”.