[audio:http://wamcradio.org/EarthWise/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/EW-03-14-14-Treating-Roads-with-Cheese.mp3|titles=EW 03-14-14 Treating Roads with Cheese]
Local governments across the country are always experimenting with cheaper and more environmentally responsible ways of keeping roads passable during icy and snowy conditions. Rock salt is the long-standing way to get the job done, but it is harmful to cars, washes away easily, pollutes waterways, and kills vegetation.
All sorts of alternatives have been tried, including beet juice, soy sauce, and discarded brewery grain. Recently, Milwaukee has started a pilot program based on a very Wisconsin-centric substance: cheese. Specifically, the program is making use of cheese brine, which is a byproduct from cheese factories that is normally shipped to waste treatment plants.
Cheese brine is quite salty – particularly when it comes from provolone or mozzarella. It is said to freeze at a lower temperature than regular salt brine and cling to the road longer than rock salt.
Cheese brine has already been in use on highways in a number of places, including Polk County, Wisconsin and in Chehalis, in Washington State. Municipalities save money on rock salt expenses and cheese makers save money by donating the brine rather than incurring hauling expenses for their waste products.
The pilot program in Milwaukee is looking at the logistics involved, the financial consequences, and whether there are unforeseen problems such as odors or even rodents. So far, residents of the Bay View neighborhood where the pilot program is taking place have not noticed any unusual smells.
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Pouring Cheese on Icy Roads in (Where Else?) Wisconsin
Photo, taken on April 15, 2012, courtesy of Brian Bucheron via Flickr.
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