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Magic Salt Melts Away Winter Woes
Author:
Mark D. Marotta, Staff Writer
The Willow Grove Guide
Published January 2005
Although the snowfall these days may be fast and
furious, Upper Moreland businessman John Stenger thinks he can
offer a solution.
Along with partner Bob Young, Stenger is co-owner
of Environmental Solutions Inc., the area’s exclusive distributor
of Magic Salt, an ice- and snow-melting product manufactured by
Innovative Municipal United States, of Rome, N. Y.
Stenger explained that Magic Salt combines liquid
magnesium chloride with distillery soluble left as waste from
the production of beer, whiskey, vodka and rum. He added that
the manufacturer does not disclose the breweries from which the
waste product comes, but that the material from only about four
facilities worldwide seems to work well.
Tanker trucks deliver 4,500-gallon shipments of
liquid to Environmental Solutions, which then sprays it onto rock
salt, Stenger said. While the application to salt sometimes takes
place at the company’s Wyandotte Road facility, it more
often happens at a customer’s site, or on large piles of
salt stored at ports in Wilmington, Morrisville or Camden.
Stenger maintained that Magic Salt works “a
lot quicker” than alternatives. While all chlorides need
contact with liquid in order to melt ice, magnesium and calcium
can draw moisture from the air, and therefore can start to work
immediately, he said.
“I’ve taken a decent amount of courses
on ice-melt product,” Stenger said. He added that he also
had chemists’ reports explaining how Magic Salt works.
Stenger acknowledged that Magic Salt is more expensive
than untreated rock salt, which currently costs $55 per ton. Treating
the salt with the liquid adds a cost of $26 per ton, he said.
However, Stenger pointed out, using the product
can reduce the amount of rock salt needed by as much as 50 percent.
As temperatures drop, he noted, rock salt tends to become less
efficient, so more has to be used. By contrast, Stenger claimed
Magic Salt works at temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees. In
recent years, temperatures dropped noticeably during snowstorms,
he added.
According to Stenger, Magic Salt is “environmentally
friendly, [and] safe for pets.” He said the distillery waste
could also be used as cattle feed.
Stenger added that he first heard of Magic Salt
10 years ago. As a snow removal contractor, he recounted, he was
“very interested in the liquid,” but found that New
York was the closest place to get it.
Now, his company, which has six full-time employees
and several seasonal workers, sells Magic Salt to customers in
Philadelphia, Bucks, Montgomery and Delaware counties in Pennsylvania,
Camden and Burlington counties in New Jersey, and New Castle County
in Delaware.
Municipalities and snow removal contractors are
usually the product’s end users, Stenger said. However,
he added, homeowners periodically show up at Environmental Solutions
to buy bags of Magic Salt. Stenger explained that small contractors
and private schools also purchase the bags, which are produced
in Canada.
Stenger said his company is in discussions with
some retail stores about having them sell Magic Salt, and is also
working on providing the product to the Southeastern Pennsylvania
Transportation Authority and Philadelphia public schools.
Environmental Solutions also provides services to
suppress dust at locations such as horse arenas, quarries and
roads, and also is a snow removal equipment dealer, Stenger added.
Content © 2005 The Willow Grove
Guide. |
