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Using rock salt to deice a driveway on a cold and frosty morning may seem like a cheap and easy solution to an annoying problem, but it can cause all sorts of adverse repercussions elsewhere due to the toxicity of the salt and its impact on its surroundings.

While rock salt can certainly shift ice and turn it into water that flows away, any salt residue left can irritate and injure animals’ feet and paws, including any beloved pets that walk on or lick the treated surface. It can also cause harm if accidentally eaten by an animal or human and residue on shoes can damage property if it is walked inside. Finally, the salt that flows away with the melted water can enter nearby habitats, such as streams, rivers and ponds, causing harm to resident wildlife.

Yet we still need to clear away frost and ice to prevent slipping and sliding and to keep our pets, vehicles and property safer in the winter. The good news is that rock salt is by no means the only method of removing ice or mitigating its effects. Here are a few pet-safe, property-safe alternatives to consider the next time you wake up to a glistening white world outside your windows.

Hot water

Although it is not advised to throw boiling water onto a car’s windscreen for fear of the glass cracking in the extreme temperature change, this can work as a rapid ice melting method for frozen driveways if you need to get the car out quickly, or you need to clear some stubborn snow fast. Bear in mind, however, that even boiling water will cool down and possibly freeze elsewhere, turning a different part of the driveway, garden or sidewalk into an ice rink instead. If you choose to use this method, make sure you pay attention to where the water is flowing to and make sure that you are not simply transferring the problem to somewhere else that could be equally annoying or dangerous.

Sand

Throwing sand or grit onto frozen or icy surfaces adds very helpful traction to allow you to walk or drive on it without quite such a high risk of slipping or sliding. Sand won’t melt the ice by itself, but it can certainly make the surface easier to navigate. Choose sand with no added rock salt or harmful chemicals and apply it sparingly so that when it is washed away into nearby borders, gardens and ditches, it won’t build up too much and cause any blockages. Or problems for resident wildlife. Check your footwear carefully when walking indoors after stepping on sand, as it can stick to the soles of your shoes and cause a mess inside.

Salt-free deicer

If you simply prefer the satisfaction of being able to apply an effective deicer and enjoy ice-free, safer surfaces, then there is good news for you. Eco Grit is an organically derived, highly effective, salt-free ice melt that is safe to apply, won’t harm pets or wildlife and works down to temperatures of minus 20 degrees C. You can also apply it the night before a frost is expected, and it carries on working for up to seven days, clearing the ice before it can become a problem for you, your pets or your property. Using a salt-free deicer gives you the best of both worlds in terms of an effective solution to slippery driveways and a safe, environmentally-friendly way to treat affected outdoor areas.

The heat of the sun – or a little bit of help

If time is on your side and the sun is shining through the wintry clouds, then you could be lucky enough to be able to take advantage of the weather and let the sun’s rays do the heavy lifting. As the day heats up, the ice and snow will melt on their own, leaving the driveway clear once again. If your budget is a little healthier, and you don’t have the luxury of waiting for the sun to work its magic, then you could look into more technological driveway solutions such as an electrical or hydronic heated driveway system. These are highly effective at preventing black ice – often a cause of serious slips and trips in the winter months, as it is very hard to spot until you have actually stepped or driven onto it.

Elbow grease

Finally, if all else fails, why not dig out the shovel and set to work clearing the snow using good, old-fashioned elbow grease? You can get plenty of snow shovelled in a short amount of time if you put your back into it. Get the whole family to help, and you can clear a whole driveway in no time!

Find out more about how the pet-safe ice melt EcoGrit can safely clear away ice and snow from your driveways and sidewalks this winter.

If you ask any group of motorists what their top irritations are when it comes to driving along the road, potholes and damage to the roads will come pretty high up the list for most, if not all of them. Potholes can damage a vehicle badly if someone drives into one without realising, as well as cause more serious problems with multiple pile-ups, traffic jams and gridlock on the roads.

How are potholes created?

Potholes are created when groundwater expands and contracts after it has seeped under the surface through porous material such as concrete or asphalt. The water expands as it freezes in sub-zero temperatures, taking up more space and forcing the surrounding material to bend and eventually crack to make room. The water then melts as temperatures rise above freezing, but the cracks and damage to the surface remain in place.

As this pattern repeats itself with changes to the temperature over subsequent days and nights, the surface becomes weaker and weaker until the cracks widen into full-blown, dangerous potholes. The situation is also not helped by heavy vehicles constantly driving over the top, adding more pressure to the compromised surface.

In sub-zero temperatures, potholes on the road are often accompanied by layers of snow or ice that has frozen to the surface, adding to the hazards faced by motorists and pedestrians trying to navigate safely.

As people try to clear the ice and snow using traditional de-icing methods like rock salt, the corrosive nature of the salt further damages the areas where there is cracking, making potholes larger, more dangerous and harder to repair. The rock salt alters the chemistry of the snow or ice, lowering the temperatures at which it freezes and speeding up the freeze-thaw cycle that is so damaging to pavements and roads.

How do potholes increase driving risk?

The most obvious one of the many dangers of potholes to the driving public is the risk of driving into one, causing the vehicle to skid, swerve or come to an abrupt stop, damaging itself and posing a very real risk for people travelling behind it. Many road traffic accidents can be attributed to cracks and potholes in the road, especially in winter when there is less daylight and driving conditions are worsened by the presence of slippery snow, frost or black ice – which can be invisible until it is too late to react.

Likewise, on pavements and paths, the hazards of potholes and cracks can cause pedestrians, animals and cyclists to trip, fall and experience injuries during a normal outing. This can cause a distraction to pass motorists, who look to see what has happened or seek to pull over to try and help out.

In addition, badly maintained roads can often lead to traffic building up all around them as drivers are obliged to go slower as they work their way around a hazard like this. Traffic jams are not an uncommon consequence, which leads to impatience, frustration and higher chances of drivers taking dangerous risks to either circumnavigate the queue or make up for ‘lost time’ by speeding once they drive away from the blockage.

Damage caused by potholes to cars and cyclists

Tyres

When a vehicle hits a pothole, the first point of contact and the area that will take the hardest impact is the tyres. Punctures are very common after hitting a pothole or crack due to the sharp areas inside the pothole or crack where the concrete or other materials used have ripped and are now sticking out at sharp, jagged angles.

Punctures can be immediately catastrophic, stopping the car instantly and requiring emergency roadside assistance, or they can be small but deadly, allowing air to hiss out almost undetected until the tyre goes flat and needs replacing. Either way, dangerous potholes are bad news for tyres.

Wheel alignment

One area that many motorists overlook when assessing their tyres for damage from a pothole is that the wheel alignment, or ‘tracking’, may have been damaged too. This is far costlier to fix and is very dangerous to leave unrepaired.

The jolt of a vehicle hitting a pothole, tyre first, can knock the angle and direction at which your tyres are set out of kilter, unbalancing the car and causing the tyres to wear unevenly. Signs that your wheel alignment is off include a sensation that the car is dragging or pulling to one side, vibrations through the steering wheel and squealing noises when you drive at low speeds.

Suspension

A vehicle’s suspension comprises the shock absorbers, springs and links that connect it to its wheels and allow it to move. It also allows the driver and their passengers to have a smoother ride. As such, this area is especially vulnerable when it comes to pothole damage.

Just as the jolt of hitting a dangerous pothole can damage tyres and send wheels out of alignment, it can also seriously affect the suspension and make handling far harder. If you suspect that your vehicle’s suspension has been affected by hitting a pothole, crack in the road or kerb, it is vital that you get it checked as quickly as possible to prevent further damage or risk.

Effects of potholes on the economy

While the effects that potholes have on road and pavement surfaces and the vehicles and pedestrians that use them, there can be no doubt that the danger of potholes has a hugely adverse effect on the wider economy too. From a domestic budget point of view, people must pay for vehicle repairs, which can have a knock-on effect on motor insurance and the financial value of the affected vehicle when it comes to resale.

On a wider scale, the council in charge of road repairs must dig deeper into their budgets to pay for repairs and road resurfacing, which can impact provision in other service areas and civic amenities. Traffic jams also cause delays for people needing to get to the office, take children to school or make it on time to essential appointments.

This affects employee performance, pupil attendance records and accessibility to important appointments, medical or otherwise. Injuries can also lead to costly lawsuits and lengthy negotiations with law firms and solicitors over appropriate financial compensation and other legal matters following a pothole-related injury. Drivers stuck in jams will also need to buy more fuel than they would have done if the roads were all lovely and smooth with no queues to tackle along the way.

All of this leads to wasted money and a negative impact on the economy. The problems don’t simply stop as soon as a vehicle drives out of a pothole. Government councils, businesses and individuals must pay the price and always remain vigilant about the risk of potholes and the importance of choosing the right pothole solution.

What do potholes do to your car?

Potholes in the road can cause a great deal of damage to cars and other vehicles. They can puncture tyres and ruin vehicles’ suspension and steering alignment. They can also cause scratched paintwork and marked bumpers from the impact of the car hitting the broken road. Driving into a pothole can also cause loss of control over the car, which can lead to accidents involving more than one vehicle. Protecting roads against winter weather, frost and ice is a key way to prevent potholes from happening. Use a naturally derived ice melt like EcoGrit to help protect road surfaces from corrosion and water ingress.

Looking for ways to protect the road during winter conditions?

We may be heading into summer, but there is no time like the present to start thinking about how to protect key roads, pavements, driveways and other surfaces from dangerous potholes and cracks when the winter temperatures start to return.

Traditional methods of de-icing such as rock salt, are corrosive to surfaces, weakening them and expediting the forming of potholes. They can also cause serious harm to pets, local flora and fauna and ecosystems, as well as damage to people’s property and vehicles.

Switching to a gentler, non-corrosive alternative that still offers excellent de-icing properties and long-lasting results can help you clear unwanted ice and snow without putting surfaces at increased risk of potholes. Eco Grit Concentrate is environmentally friendly and easy to use. To find out about the many advantages of using EcoGrit Concentrate this winter, speak EcoGrit or visit the website today.

Carbon emissions and their effect on greenhouse gases and climate change have long been at the top of the global agenda, but many of us don’t know where to start in doing our bit. It can all seem so big and impossible to make a difference, yet there are several things we can do to help. From making energy-saving adjustments to our home lives to introducing small ecological changes at work and encouraging young people to live sustainably by leading by example at school.

Read in to discover ten easy pieces of advice to help you reduce our energy use, minimise our carbon footprint and generally help protect and preserve the world in which we live.

How to reduce carbon footprint at home

Shop locally

An easy way to decrease your carbon footprint is to buy food, ingredients and anything else you might need as locally as possible. Research where and when your local farmers’ markets open and get to know the shops and businesses in your immediate vicinity. Try not to automatically reach for the internet to buy what you need. The fewer the miles that products travel, the lower their impact on climate change will be.

Try to keep your fridge, kitchen and home stocked with locally produced items as much as you can and always shop responsibly to ensure that you know exactly what you are eating, and that unethical farming and non-sustainable production practices can be stamped out wherever possible.

Travel more sustainably

Recent coronavirus-related events aside, we all need to travel away from home for various reasons, distances and time periods. Cars, trains, planes and other forms of transport all have an impact on greenhouse gases and carbon emissions due to the fuel that is burned. There are all kinds of ways to travel more responsibly, from taking public transport over a gas-guzzling car and making the switch to an electric or hybrid vehicle engine to reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

Don’t forget the surfaces on which you travel too. Keeping them in good condition will help reduce wear and tear on vehicles and so keep performance and fuel consumption at their best. Don’t use products that can be corrosive or damaging to them, such as rock salt to clear ice in the winter. Opting for a safer, more environmentally-friendly alternative such as EcoGrit Concentrate will help you to do your bit when it comes to clearing icy roads responsibly.

Reduce, reuse, recycle

This alliterative phrase has been around for a while now, but that doesn’t lessen its importance. It generally takes more energy to make new products than it does to recycle or reuse existing materials and the recycling process also cuts down on the amount of waste we send to the landfill as a planet. Less litter also helps with the wider environment, keeping the Earth’s delicate habitats safe and clean for wildlife and helping to minimise carbon emissions.

Simple ways to ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ at home include taking your own cloth or paper bags shopping and turning raw food waste into compost for the garden. Washing out plastic pots for future storage is a useful tip, as is saving envelopes and the backs of letters you no longer need for making lists and notes on.

Watch your water use

Using a lot of water at home puts pressure not only on the water and sewage systems, but it wastes energy and affects your carbon footprint. Try a few simple changes, such as only filling the kettle with as much water as you need for your morning cuppa or for cooking pasta, rice or vegetables for dinner. Take showers instead of baths and turn the tap off while you are brushing your teeth, rather than letting it run the whole time.

If you have the outdoor space, consider collecting rainwater in a suitable container – this can be used to flush the toilet or to water the garden. You can also save lightly used water to clean the car or to wash down the patio outside, so long as there are no chemicals present that could harm the nearby wildlife, such as rock salt.

How to reduce carbon footprint at work

Power down

We all know the importance of taking regular rest breaks at work to become more productive and avoid burn-out, but the same applies to our electrical appliances. Turn off computers, printers, photocopiers and the like at the mains when you leave the office at night to save electricity and allow everything to cool down. The same goes for lunchtimes if you are in the habit of leaving your desk for the entire hour – a good habit to get into, by the way – switch off your IT equipment to save energy and reduce your organisation’s carbon footprint.

Lighting and heating

The same goes for your office’s lighting and heating. Leaving lights burning and radiators blasting out heat when no-one is there is a sure-fire way to waste energy and increase your commercial carbon footprint. Nominate someone to check on this, especially when the office shuts for a longer period, such as Christmas or during the summer holidays. Install a thermostat if you don’t have one already to keep a firmer control on the amount of heat being produced. Don’t let it all escape through opened windows.

Another useful way to keep a lid on wasted light usage is to install motion-sensors that turn lights off automatically after a short period of time with no movement being detected in the room. This is a simple, yet highly effective way to save a surprisingly large amount of money on your electricity bills. Plus, there is the option of switching to LED lighting, which requires less energy to operate and produces high enough levels of light for an organisation to function all year round.

Be socially aware

Corporate social responsibility is a big part of many companies that recognised their duty towards their wider community and helping those in society who are in need of a hand, financially or otherwise. Here is another great avenue for working more responsibly. Support energy-saving charities and organisations seeking to make a difference and fight climate change, from green pressure groups to charities offsetting energy use with tree planting and similar ecologically sound initiatives.

There are many ways in which you can support groups like these, from raising money to donate to their latest fundraising campaign to volunteering as a group of employees, or on an individual basis, for a day, week or even longer on an energy-saving related project.

How to reduce carbon footprint at school

Alternative energy

It’s never too early to start learning about how to reduce your carbon footprint and school is an excellent place to teach the younger generation about energy efficiency and sustainable living. Lead by example by installing LED lighting, motion-detection sensors and another energy-saving measures in the classrooms and public spaces. Have a recycling station where the pupils are encouraged to deposit used paper and plastic or cardboard packaging from their school projects and packed lunches.

Think about outdoor spaces too. Can the school install solar panels or introduce rainwater butts to save water? What about creating a wildlife garden to teach the children about the flowers, insects and animals that share their school space? You could introduce bird boxes, bug hotels and wildflower meadows too, to encourage wildlife into the school.

Walking warriors

Cars and vehicles pose many dangers to children, not least when they are arriving and leaving school and the start and end of the day. From driving too fast to parking dangerously, drivers are often too concerned with the movements of their own progeny to notice the wider effect that their actions could be having. Think about introducing measures to discourage driving too close to the school, such as barriers, no parking zones and warning notices.

One step further (quite literally, kin this case) would be to start a campaign to encourage walking to school, at least for some of the distance. Get the kids to design posters, talk to their families and learn facts about walking to get more families to ditch the car in favour of Shanks’ Pony. This has the dual benefit of reducing carbon emissions at the same timer as helping people to stay fit, healthy and active.

Knowledge is power

Finally, capture young imaginations by teaching your pupils all about climate change, global warming, greenhouse gases and the many and varied ways they can help reduce their own carbon footprint at school and at home. You may well be surprised by the ideas they come up with and the passion they feel for protecting the planet, reducing pollution and saving precious natural resources.

How Ecogrit concentrate can help

If you are keen to know more about how treating icy roads in an ecological, non-corrosive way to reduce your own carbon footprint this winter, visit EcoGrit online to find out more about its long-lasting, effective, organically derived de-icing solution.

UK becomes the first major economy to pass net-zero emissions law

The aim: to help stop Global Warming.

The problem: our country becomes colder in the winter.

 We can barely cope now when the ice and snow arrive even in short spells. We have never created a proper product to help in these situations as they didn’t arise so often. We had been more than happy to use rock salt as it works down to -6C, is easily available and cheap. We have always overlooked the fact that this product is not only damaging to our environment and super corrosive to anything it contacts because we didn’t use it that often in the past. 

Times are changing and we need to change with them. 

At present

Areas, where rock salt is used most, is quite evident. Potholes are in abundance and the whole road surface is starting to fall apart. The government recognises and accepts an overall deterioration of 3% annually to our roads. At this rate, we don’t have the manpower to fix the entire network of existing potholes in a 12 month period. We have the technology now which the government passed in 2019, thermal road repairing. Even if we fixed all the potholes permanently (trying to fix all the potholes in a 12 month period would cause massive delays to commuters and traffic), we would still have a problem with the deterioration of the road surface. 

Round the corner

As we push to reduce our CO2 emissions, the winters will get harsher. If we continue to throw more rock salt at the problem then we WILL accelerate the deterioration of our roads and infrastructure. With ever-increasing vehicles, our road network will struggle to cope and roads would crumble more quickly. 

 An option on the market at the moment is urea. Many products claiming to be pet-friendly and environment-friendly are just 100% urea. This product hasn’t been designed for this purpose and if used on a large scale will cause us an environmental nightmare (toxic algae blooms).

 EcoGrit Concentrate can be our saving grace if we get behind it. It has been designed to tackle all of the issues, tick the right boxes and has the ability to be used by the whole country without causing us any environmental problems. Imagine it, roads without constant potholes.

At our homes

In many areas around the country, people are being forced to use deicing and rock salt to keep their driveways and paths clear. This isn’t an ideal solution because of the risk it poses to pets, garden and home. We don’t want to destroy our own property just so we can access it but that is what’s happening. As the temperature changes, it is going to become a problem for more and more people. The more we have to use rock salt then the quicker we deteriorate our homes. People in hilly areas or homes that have driveways on a slope, need to keep these areas ice-free to allow access in and out of the property as well as to prevent vehicles from sliding when they are parked.

 As temperatures drop this is going to be a growing problem as we go forward, as many people have vehicles under contracts where they swap vehicles every couple of years. When you swap you often have to pay for any damage to the vehicle, which can be costly. If your vehicle slides overnight and causes damage to itself or others then it is you footing the bill.