Sustainable rock salt

At the present time there is much attention for sustainability in the world. Sustainability of goods, works and services means that next to price and quality also environmental and social aspects are of increasing importance. Social aspects include themes like child labour and human rights. An example of environmental aspects is the effect of the product or the production process at the environment in terms of energise or the use of material.

In the Netherlands the central government is making concrete steps towards a sustainable society. It has the ambition to include sustainability in all its purchases by 2010. This means that also in winter maintenance sustainability will be involved.

In winter maintenance several types of road salt – rock salt and vacuum salt – are used. Sustainable purchasing of road salt will mean that the quality and environmental aspects of these salts will be included.

Rock salt is a natural product. It is won by traditional mining. Rock salt has the right ratio of fine and coarse grains for an optimal de-icing. Compared to other salts, Eurosalt’s rock salt has a high purity and a low water content. In effect the quality of our salt is better.

If we are looking at the environmental aspects of road salt the effect of the production process is of concern. Energy and materials of use define for a substantial part the sustainability of a salt. In view of the climate change there are more and more rules to decrease the C0₂ emission at energy consuming processes. The use of energy and thus the C0₂ emission at the production of rock salt is very favourable compared to the production of vacuum salt. Emissions for rock salt are a tenfold less than emissions for vacuum salt at production.

Additional studies about C0₂ emission at the production of road salt are pending.

More information about the quality and environmental aspects of salts you can read at the attached article.