Also a life long Gold Star customer here. The quality took a real turn for the worst the last 5 years, so not surprised about the food poisoning issues that lead to their closure.

That said, +1 for Mandarin, they’ve become the Gold Star replacement in my house.

I read through the report linked above, it basically comes down to too much of a safety trade off using a salt alternative.

People generally don’t care much for their cars, and the damage to infrastructure and environment is seen as fixable after the fact. Essentially, the death and injury/accident rate would increase under a salt alternative, which is seen as less favorable compared to preserving bridges and the environment.

So if there is to be a salt alternative, it would need to be almost nearly as effective if not better than salt would be right now.

I found a report comparing salt to an alternative, calcium magnesium acetate.

https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/11405/highway-deicing-comparing-salt-and-calcium-magnesium-acetate-comparing-salt

It's honestly awful all throughout Mass, but I'm looking to start bringing about awareness to the problem.

Our tax dollars pay for roads, which are then destroyed by our tax paid salt and road workers, then our tax dollars pay for the new roads, and on and on.

It's a viscous cycle of a money pit that burdens the tax payer, when our local government should be looking for safer alternatives.

Sure, salt is cheap as hell, but there is certainly a cost/benefit factor that is being ignored here.

My question is, what costs the tax payer more?

• Paying to repave roads, repair our cars, and treat our land that deteriorated at an accelerated rate due to cheap road salt?
• Using a significantly less corrosive ice melt substance (at higher cost than salt), but preserving and extending the life of our roads, cars, and environment?