Sustainable Snow and Ice Management

Let it Snow!

November 2018

Winter weather is becoming harder to predict, but we know you need a plan that works for you, your client and/or corporate brand and your budget. The additional stresses that winter weather causes facility managers are changing. Cost control, risk management, and rising expectations for near-perfect conditions (“zero tolerance”) are typical challenges. As in many northern states, Minnesotans are seeing that there is liability linked to the overuse of rock salts (sodium chloride) leading to water pollution. We also know, however, that residents, tenants, or guests do not complain when they encounter plowed parking lots, cleared sidewalks, and steps that are free of snow and ice. They do complain when their cars are stuck, salt is tracked onto the building carpets, or they suffer a fall due to snow and ice.

As a property manager/owner, your challenge is to prevent these reasons for complaint. Before winter threats are a possibility, it is important that you have a plan that addresses human, property, land, and water protection. That is where our company excels. We help you select the level of service expectations that are right for you. We are a Minnesota Pollution Control Agency Certified Level II snow-ice company. We calibrate our salt equipment and our storm response times with appropriate resource allocations (your snow crew and their materials and equipment). We prevent bonding of snow and ice on paved surfaces by using anti-icing application techniques as conditions allow. We optimize dry salt output by “pre-wetting” dry salt flow with salt brine, because salt is optimally effective in liquid form for melting snow. We purchase new plow technology options for more efficiency in clearing snow accumulation from parking lot surfaces down to near-bare conditions.

Less snow and ice accumulation left on the parking lot surface means less salt is needed to melt. We are leading the Minnesota standards of practice for responsible snow and ice management and sustainable property management.