New cover technology aims to save salt, money and the environment – and help keep our roads ice free this winter

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(Free-Press-Release.com) November 8, 2011 -- But currently significant amounts of that vital resource is being washed away or spoilt every time it rains – because around 1,000 salt stores, some of them worth up to £50,000, are left uncovered. That’s around half of the UK’s total salt supplies.

Each year, around 30% of each uncovered salt pile is leached away: some 15% of our total national salt stock. In addition, spreaders need to use much more salt if it has been left uncovered – between 50 and 100% more – because rain damage will reduce its effectiveness.

The impact on our environment is also considerable, as the leached out salt ends up in streams and waterways, posing a hazard to flora and fauna, as well as our groundwater drinking supplies.

The reason some councils don’t cover supplies is that housing salt in a ‘salt barn’ is expensive, while current lightweight single use outdoor covers only last one year and are difficult to manoeuvre without ripping – making them relatively costly and cumbersome to use.

Now a new answer has been developed which promises to save our salt, huge amounts of taxpayers’ money and the environment.

Base Structures, a company whose tensile fabric structures grace landmark buildings including Lord’s Cricket Ground, working together with specialist industry supplier Dome UK, have developed a cover which costs around 50% more than conventional covers but which will last four or five times longer.

“The secret is not only using heavier weight, more robust material,” says Base Structures’ Head of Projects Mark Smith. “We’ve also adapted a modular technique from our other work and enabled smaller sections of fabric to be joined together to create an optimum size cover for each location. As salt piles are gradually used up, those pieces are taken off and stored for reuse another time – making it a far more manageable process.

“The sections of fabric simply clip together – no training is needed. And the mix of reinforced PVC and polyester we use is really hard wearing. It can typically be reused four or five times – and up to seven years if it is not used often.”

The new covers are already being deployed by the Highways Agency in Lincolnshire.

Most importantly, by protecting the supplies of salt, the chances of councils running out of supplies in an extended freeze will be significantly reduced.

“Salt is a huge investment for any authority,” says Mark, “with each tonne costing between £20 and £30. And they will be really under fire if they run short, which is why they have really been stocking up this Autumn. That can lead to even more wastage if the stocks are left uncovered. With our new design of covers, councils and highways agencies will know exactly how much usable stock they have and be able to control the process much more cost effectively.”
 
Pass the salt…

Five handy facts on road salt

• The recommended level for roads using salt that has been covered is 10 gm/sq m. The recommended level with salt that has been left uncovered is between 15 and 20 gm/sq m, because of the damage that rain does to salt over time.

• The salt used to melt ice and add traction on UK roads is extracted from three main sources: Cheshire, Teesside and County Antrim.

• The salt is only really effective above minus 9 deg C.

• Salt for road spreading should ideally have a maximum water content of 4%.

• This year, councils are stockpiling thousands of tonnes of extra road salt in case of another severe winter, According to the Local Government Association (LGA), salt orders have increased to 1.4 million tonnes. On average, councils are each aiming to have 1,500 tonnes more salt available to treat roads and pavements than they did at this time last year.

Base Structures is the UK’s leading tensile fabric architecture specialist with more than 1,400 projects in our portfolio. We work closely with architects from visualisation to design and specification to add that extra finesse that makes building projects truly memorable.
For further information, please visit www.basestructures.com
For media enquiries, please contact Kevin Hemmings on 0117 971 2229 or email kevinh@basestructures.com