"Frank Logullo" wrote:

As a chemist, I knew she was wrong. But, now I'm reminded of the idiot that
told my wife to put kitty litter on our icy walk.
Maybe some kitty litter is sand, however, this was clay and turned the walk
into a muddy mess.

All kitty litter is clay. The advantage of clay is that it is not
abrasive like sand. Clay can be cleaned up. Abrasive damage can't. It
is a trade off. We like kitty litter and hate sand.

Now this moron recommends charcoal to absorb salt.
Activated carbon is really messy stuff ;(

European scientists must be morons also. In Europe, many rivers are
contaminated chemically rather than biologically. They use activated
charcoal (some of which is obtained from Anthracite Coal exported from
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania) to purify their drinking water.
Activated charcoal is no messier than wood ashes which do well in the
soil.

We have a Mahonia (Oregon Grape) that grows right next to the road and
gets salt dumped on it all winter. It thrives there. There may be some
other plants that tolerate salt also.

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