ride are naturally occurring elements that are effective at melting ice. Magnesium chloride, in particular, offers several environmental advantages. It pro-vides superior ice melting capability — down to minus 25 degrees Fahrenheit and minus 32 degrees Celsius. It is also safer for pets, vegetation and concrete, which is particularly important for professionals who are responsible for main-taining landscaping and concrete as well as removing ice and snow. Two deicing products produced by our company that contain magnesium chloride have received the Design for the Environ-ment (DfE) label – a distinction awarded by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to products that meet stringent guide-lines for environmental safety. The EPA’s DfE label is awarded after the agency’s review team screens each ingredi-ent contained in a product and finds each to pose the least concern among similar prod-ucts in its class. In the case of these deicers, the DfE label indicates the use of natural, environmental-ly-friendly additives; the ability to achieve safe, clear surfaces with less overall prod-uct use; and the use of a non-staining colorant that improves the precision of ap-plication. produces minerals such as salt and magne-sium chloride. High saline water is drawn from the Great Salt Lake’s most remote areas into shallow solar evaporation ponds. The sun naturally evaporates the water in these ponds over a three-year period, leav-ing behind naturally occurring minerals that are then processed to make ice melt and other products. It’s a very green way to produce all-natural deicers. In fact, achieving the same annual evap-oration rates without solar power would require burning 14 million tons of coal and releasing 37 million tons of carbon dioxide. While solar evaporation is already an envi-ronmentally-friendly production process, we found a way to make the process even more efficient with patent-pending, pond-sealing technology. Initiated by our team of engineers, we pio-neered a way to increase the amount of min-erals we harvest from these ponds without increasing our water use. By creating an impermeable barrier be-tween the pond water and the lake, we re-duce brine loss and retain more of the most concentrated brine for evaporation. Green Transportation Water transportation is one of the greenest ways to move bulky materials. It minimizes emissions and uses four times less fuel compared with transporting an equal amount of product over the same distance by truck. Ships and barges deliver rock salt to our packaging facilities where it is produced into deicing products. These packaging facilities are located at ports on the Great Lakes and the Mississip-pi River so that they can efficiently receive rock salt shipments from our Goderich mine on Lake Huron and our Cote Blanche mine in Louisiana. For the growing number of maintenance professionals who prefer environmentally friendly products and production processes, the deicing industry is making it easier to clear surfaces with a clear conscience. CM Earth-friendly Production Salt, a key ingredient in many deicers, occurs naturally and is produced through several methods, including underground mining. Salt mining is safer for the environment than many other forms of mining because it produces virtually no waste. The only thing removed from the mines is salt, and whatever we can’t use is left under-ground. Since no water is used in the rock salt min-ing process, there’s no water runoff or risk of groundwater contamination. Solar evaporation is another process by which minerals are produced. In fact, solar evaporation is the oldest and most energy-efficient method of mineral pro-duction, and it’s the process by which we produce the magnesium chloride used in our deicers. For more than 40 years, our solar produc-tion facility in the Great Salt Lake in Utah has used the sun as the primary source of energy for an evaporation process that Greener cleaners make a difference. Ours make a BIG difference. And they REALLY work. Visit us on-line, and take the first step toward a cleaner, greener world. enviro-solution.com Toll Free: 1-877-674-4373 FREE INFO: Reader Service 204 or CMMOnline.com/freeinfo www.cmmonline.com 29