Professional Documents
Culture Documents
The Cheese Brine Project
Final Report
by
Max DeMay, Eva Fellows, Cook Stover, Jackson Stucker
Global Political Ecology
Pablo Toral
Fall 2015
Presented December 7, 2015
Problem
● Rock salt used as a deicing agent in winter can have a wide range deleterious on
the environment. Specifically, rock salt has a welldocumented effect on
vegetation as it has been known to kill plants with lowchloride tolerance and
create soil conditions toxic to growth. When rock salt is applied, up to 30% of
is lost to runoff. This runoff can end up in streams and waterways and harm
marine life.
● Beloit College uses anywhere from 45 to 94 tons of rock salt per year
depending on the severity of the winter. This salt usage can cost anywhere
from $10,00020,000 conservatively per year .
Goals
● To find a more ecofriendly deicer that can be implemented campuswide
● To find a more cost effective deicer
● To reduce the amount of rock salt used by Beloit College landscaping
Solutions
● To test the effectiveness of cheese brine despite an unseasonably dry winter
thus far,
we conducted a test in an artificial environment . Concrete slabs to
simulate a sidewalk were frozen within a brick of ice. A layer of ice approximately
½ inch sat atop the concrete.
○ Pro Slicer (safe salt) was applied as it would normally to a sidewalk to the
first frozen concrete slab. Seventy percent of the amount of Pro Slicer
applied to the first slab was applied to the second, along with enough
cheese brine to cover the surface.
○ Immediately, the cheese brine began to melt the ice on the second
block. After 4.5 hours in a 20ºF freezer, both blocks remained frozen;
however, the block that was treated was less opaque.
■ More trials need to be performed, but initial results interesting,
aided in practicing process of applying brine and raised questions
about what the dramatic altering of the ice’s appearance without
melting it meant.
■ Extremely low temperature of freezer and large quantity of ice may
have complicated experiment
● Prewetting in a controlled environment a tactic to consider
trying, more trials, a control block with no salt treatment.
● Walked through the process of “prewetting” the sidewalk.
○ Through use of a handpump, we found that evenly distributing the brine
on a sidewalk was an easy process.
● Established a relationship with Furman Bros and Maple Leaf Cheese
○ Establishing relationships with relevant actors is a vital step for any
project that is looking to be maintained or replicated in the future. Should
this project be continued in the spring or by another group, we are
confident that we can act as a resource and
Challenges
● We are working with a private company. Beloit College contracts landscaping
work to the Furman Brothers. We have had to deal with the incentive structure
and ethics of a private business.
● We needed icy weather to test alternatives. During the semester, the only major
snowfall was followed by warm weather, resulting in very little ice. Without the
conditions to do so, we had to perform tests in controlled environments to
observe the brine’s effect.
● Coordinating with the Furman Brothers to ensure that the use of brine
continues. This process is ongoing. The Furman Brothers have been very
communicative and helpful, but they expect some results before changing their
policy. The next step in this process is reinforcing our findings with continued
testing to persuade the company to use brine.
● Finding documented use of cheese brine. The practice of using brine to treat
ice is relatively new and only present in a few US municipalities. Getting
testimony/data from these areas proved to be a challenge. One such
municipality, Polk County, was able to give us limited information about the
savings and efficiency of brine.
Accomplishments
● We obtained free cheese brine from a local dairy manufacturer. If the
Furman Brothers are to incorporate this practice into their deicing routine, we
have provided them with a source of brine. We have presented the Furman
Brothers with a way to improve their deicing process without cost.
Communication with dairies in obtaining the brine will be important.
● We have an established communication with the Furman Brothers. The
company is aware of the alternative, is staying informed on results, and is open
to changing their policy.
● We have researched and tested the efficiency of an innovative, alternative
deicer. Should future groups decide to continue to pursue this project in the
future, we have found the literature that suggests cheese brine improves the
effects of sodium chloride while using less of it.
○ Initial testing of cheese brine’s affect on ice in conjunction with salt
showed promising first steps towards
Advice for Future Projects
● Prepare tests early. Having this part done quickly will allow future activists be
ready for the right weather conditions and focus on gathering information from
other sources.
● Because of the fickle Midwestern weather, future activists should keep an eye
on the weather. We were caught offguard by the first snow, before
Thanksgiving. This ended up being less of a missed opportunity than we thought,
because it was followed by a quick rise in temperature. Be ready to test deicers
at any time.
● Maintain contact with the Furman Brothers. The Furman Brothers gave us a
plethora of information and advice. Continuing contact with them will ensure that
change is institutionalized.
Contacts
● Derrick Furman: Furman Brothers Landscaping
● William R. Knox: Maple Leaf Cheese Manufacturing
Ethics
Through this project, we sought to minimize Beloit College’s negative environmental
impact by getting the college to use greener landscaping methods. This is in line with the
college’s mission statement to become a sustainable campus.
We were ethical in the way that we sought to work with the Furman Brothers and use
them as an ally in the process recognizing that they are a small local business that is trying to
make a profit. We decided to use a local cheese manufacturer to supply our cheese brine in an
effort to build a sustainable mutuallybeneficial relationship.
Politics
Cheese brine is free of charge, ensuring that we did not have to secure funding from any
student bodies. Convincing the Furman Brothers to change their policies therefore has become
an issue of demonstrating the ability to save on salt costs, as detailed in the economics section.
We have to convince them that rock salt is a safe alternative, as safety is their number one
concern when it comes to deicing.
Economics
Because cheese brine is a waste product, the only costs in obtaining it are
transportationrelated and thus are relatively small. This cost can be offset by the amount of
savings in rock salt, as we expect a 30% reduction in its use. This not only translates to less
expenditure on the rock salt itself, but also could mean reduced damage to Beloit College’s
lawns and gardens, which reduces spending on landscaping. Economic convergence
contributed to the successes of our project, the implementation of cheese brine reduces costs
for the landscaping company, improves the environmental legacy of Beloit College, and
removes waste from a local dairy producer.
Contact with the Polk County Highway Department revealed that within their first year of
cheese brine use, they saved about $40,000 on annual salt expenses.
Science
Rock salt is an effective, cheap, and readily available compound for preventing ice
formation. The ions that rock salt dissolves into prevent the formation of hydrogen bonds
between water molecules that are crucial in the crystallization of water and its transformation
into ice. This deicing process leaves the freefloating ions to be swept off of the applied surface
and into local topsoil and waterways, causing a host of environmental problems which worsen
exponentially with increased concentrations.
Organic additives such as cheese brine contribute to the temperature range in which
deicing compounds are effective. Organic additives lessen the corrosive potential of rock salt as
well as decreasing the amount of salt needed per square foot. Perhaps the most important role
that brines, juices, and other organic additives play in the deicing process is the adhesive quality
of the saltadditive mixture which both decreases runoff and spreads the compound over
pavement more evenly.
Conclusion
This project took many important steps, but full implementation of our deicer compound
has yet to be put into effect, and challenges remain. The Furman Brothers were very helpful and
easy to collaborate with, and we encourage groups to work with them on future projects.
According to the research, cheese brine should be an effective and environmentally friendly tool
whose implementation should benefit not only Beloit campus, but the larger community as a
whole. Once the hurdles of implementation are passed, it should be easy to make positive
environmental change on this campus.
Appendix A
documented email correspondences by date