Wisconsin Cities Are Using Cheese Brine to Keep Roads Safe

Michael Epstein

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Sep 9, 2013
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Wisconsin Cities Are Using Cheese Brine to Keep Roads Safe

They're taking the idea that "everything is better with cheese" to a whole new level.

The city of Milwaukee has recently started field-testing a new method for keeping their roads from freezing over: They're spraying their roads with the salty water created as a byproduct from making cheese, to keep their roads from freezing. The program, started by a small county in Wisconsin and adopted by the city earlier this month, is apparently cheaper and more effective than simply laying down tons of rock salt on roads every winter.

Spraying the brine, which is mixed with traditional rock salt, is much more efficient than spreading salt with large trucks: A fair amount of the dry salt will bounce off the road when it hits the ground, forcing the city to use more. It's also better for the environment, as the brine is normally discarded as waste by manufacturers.

It's also much cheaper. Cities and states across the US have been struggling to find cheaper alternatives to spreading rock salt. Milwaukee, for example, spent $10 million on salt last year. Studies have tested the snow-melting effects of beet juice and beer byproducts, among other things. Cheese-makers are happy to donate the brine to municipalities, so long as they pay to transport it. The owner of a participating company said he saved $20,000 in transportation expenses.

While the concept seems to work well for now, officials are worried about some of the potential side-effects, including the possibility that the brine could make whole cities and towns smell like cheese.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, Mozzarella and Provolone brine are best for making snow-melting solution. According to Milwaukee public works manager Jeffrey A. Tews, they "have the best salt content. You have to do practically nothing to it."

Source: NYT [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/24/us/wisconsin-finds-another-role-for-cheese-de-icing-roads.html?_r=5&adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1388154777-tjspUpJbMvpRfi34RLIlYg]

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Psychobabble

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Aug 3, 2013
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MinionJoe said:
I've noticed brine trucks in my hometown for the first time this year. Seems to work better than raw rock salt.

Used to be the city here would use clinkers from the coal plant. But people threw a fit when they found out that clinkers are a bit radioactive. Haven't seen clinkers used here since.
So it's a choice between smelling like a deli or glowing faintly in the dark.
 

tippy2k2

Beloved Tyrant
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Mar 15, 2008
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Freaking cheese heads! You think you're so great just because Aaron Rodgers is coming back and my team has three God-awful Quarterbacks with a stadium that is falling apart and the one good thing we have in our RB is getting old and falling apart...

You guys just LOVE your cheese...

*grumble *grumble *grumble cheese heads *grumble *grumble *grumble freaking Ponder *grumble *grumble *grumble...

All well, it can't make your cities smell worse, can it?!?!

HA! High five Minnesota people! I zinged them good doncha know! :D
 

Spaceman Spiff

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Sep 23, 2013
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Heh this is a pretty creative way to use what is normally a waste product. I had no idea this was a thing and I live pretty close to Milwaukee. Cool beans.
 

Fasckira

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Oct 22, 2009
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Michael Epstein said:
"everything is better is cheese"
"with cheese", perhaps? :p

Great idea; using a waste product instead of pouring it away, and I imagine it'll be a little more car friendly (ie, no massive salt rock chips).
 

Ace O'Hagen

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May 28, 2013
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Fasckira said:
Michael Epstein said:
"everything is better is cheese"
"with cheese", perhaps? :p

Great idea; using a waste product instead of pouring it away, and I imagine it'll be a little more car friendly (ie, no massive salt rock chips).
and the rust and corrosion that comes from tons of salt being left on the road, then mixing with slush and coating your car
 

weirdee

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Apr 11, 2011
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How is spraying a waste product evenly across the entire state less harmful than what they were doing with it before?
 

Hairless Mammoth

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weirdguy said:
How is spraying a waste product evenly across the entire state less harmful than what they were doing with it before?
Because that salt water was either being pumped out to fields to dry and leave tons of salt there or being pumped into groundwater/rivers. Now it's just going on the roads which were already getting the typical NaCl salt, which like the OP said needs alot more since it can bounce off the roads. It's still ending up in the ground, storm drains, and rivers but at least it cuts costs.

Captcha: ticked off

If I start smelling nasty cheese 20 miles south of Wisconsin then I might get ticked off.
 

Strazdas

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May 28, 2011
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Sigh. Salt water. i wonder who really put this mythos forth that is sticking so well. At the levels of freezing over when salt is needed for anyone expet people running summer tires is already too cold for salt to be active enough to do the job, so the only thing we achieve is destroy our cars and boots with salt. You would be thousands times better off actually spending that money on CLEANING roads instead.