Despite a fairly mild winter, the public works department in Chatham-Kent is looking to see if there's a better way to de-ice roads and a beet juice product is one possibility.
Director Miguel Pelletier has had residents asking why the municipality wasn't using beet juice when so many beets are grown locally. Now, he's looking into a possible trial run.
"Some other municipalities have used it and it didn't work out," says Pelletier. "Some people didn't like the smell, didn't like the fact that it stained."
However, Pelletier adds some municipalities have reported greater efficiencies in using the product. He is still in the planning stage of a potential trial to find salt alternatives.
"Between beet juice and some of the other alternatives, I basically need to pick one or two and invest the money to get the material and put it on our roads and see how it works," says Pelletier.
There won't be any test to find salt alternatives though if money isn't approved for the project in the 2016 budget which is still yet to be finalized by Chatham-Kent council.
