Environment Friendly Tips to Clear Snow and Ice

The mercury has dipped and keeps dipping. You look out of your window and see a dazzling, white blanket of snow covering everything from your car, to your mailbox, to your driveway. This snow needs to be removed at some point. Ice and snow removal is an unavoidable part of winter and somebody’s got to do it. Before you start, stop to consider if the way you remove snow and ice is harmful for the environment. There are many ways of removing ice and snow. However, a lot of these methods affect our environment, our children, and our pets. Snow and ice control can be done with more sustainable materials.

Let us look at some environment friendly alternatives to removing snow from our properties.

• Organic de-icer – Instead of using salt, use organic de-icers. These may be slightly more expensive but are not as harmful as salt. These are also pet friendly and do not harm plants.
• Coffee grind – When you drink coffee, store the grind for use later. Coffee grind is of a dark color and will absorb sunlight even when it is cloudy. As a result, it will melt ice and not harm your plants or pets in the process.
• Alfalfa meal – Being a natural fertilizer, it is not as harmful to the environment as salt. It provides traction for vehicles and clears ice on roads.
• Sugar Beet Juice – Juice obtained from sugar beet can be used as a natural ice melter. It reduces the melting point of both snow and ice.
• Sand – Sand is a good thing to use for traction, but in moderation. Too much of it might clog drains when the spring melt begins.
• Snow Melt Mat – This a great way to melt the snow from your driveway and it does not harm the environment as much as salt does. It involves installing a snow melt mat underneath the driveway. Once the ice and snow accumulate, from the comfort of your home, switch on the mat. It will heat up and melt all the snow away.
• Snow Blower – If you use a snow blower, upgrade to an electric model. The snow blowers that run on gas, pollute the air and adds to air and noise pollution.
• Shovel – There is no better and more environment friendly way to remove snow than to shovel it. It is good exercise and it will ensure that ice melt products are used as little as possible. Choose a good shovel so that you don’t strain your back.

Besides these, there are many reasons not to use the conventional ice melt products. Salt melts ice very easily but it comes at a high price. It is corrosive and cause damage to cement and metal. Used excessively, it could eat into pipes and affect ground water. it could damage your car. If salt gets into lawns, it sucks the nutrients and the oxygen right out of the soil. It can stick to the paws of our pets and affects their health when they lick their paws. At the time of spring melt, it runs down into local water bodies and pollutes the water. If you want to know more about snow and ice control, contact All American Turf Beauty.

 

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