Blue planet, green ideas | De-icing salt, enemy in Saint-Hyacinthe

De-icing salt is almost banned in Saint-Hyacinthe. One street at a time, one neighborhood at a time, the municipality of Montérégie convinced its citizens to adhere to ecological snow removal.

Instead of salt and ice melts, which have harmful consequences on aquatic ecosystems, vegetation and infrastructure, blue-collar workers spread small broken stones on all residential streets.

Before this shift to gravel that began in 2018, the city of nearly 60,000 inhabitants was among the three Quebec municipalities of similar size to use the most de-icing salt. Relatively speaking, in 2019, Brossard and Boucherville occupied first and second positions. This year, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Boucherville and Granby occupy the head of the podium for harmful salt, according to data compiled from grouped purchases from the Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ). Saint-Hyacinthe is fourth.

The head of Saint-Hyacinthe roads, Alexandre Frappier, invited The Press to board a small stone spreading truck.

“Our citizens were used to driving on the asphalt in winter, practically walking in flip-flops on our sidewalks,” he said.

In 2025, the City aims to be at the top of the list of eco-responsible cities in terms of icebreaking, by replacing salt. This winter, abrasives and fluxes will be used in very small doses, during weather cocktails alternating freezing rain and extreme cold. Abrasive remains necessary for safety reasons on some downtown arteries and their sidewalks, on the bridge spanning the Yamaska ​​River and on steep hills.

Result : the quantity of salt used in recent years in metric tons (mt) has fallen from 7,078 metric tons in 2018 to 2,000 in 2024.

Signs “Slow down. Ecological snow removal” have been installed at numerous intersections in the Saint-Joseph district, leading to the Saint-Hyacinthe road garages, rue Lemire. The mayor, who intends to run for another term, André Beauregard, toured the road yard with The Press to show how empty what we call “the salt tuque” is.

“Before, it was always filled to the top. We carry out snow removal as in the past, there is packing and collection. It’s on icebreaking that our methods have really changed,” he says.

Ecological and economical

He says that at the beginning, it was a pilot project in two neighborhoods. In addition to the ecological impact, the mayor and his team estimate that the abolition of salt at a cost of $100 per metric ton (often transported by boat from mines in the Magdalen Islands or Ontario) generates annual savings of $250,000. The purchase of gravel is local; the small stones come from Carrières Saint-Dominique, in the same region.

If there was some reluctance on the part of the population initially, the “salt-free” status is now the pride of the entire town in Maskoutains county, explains the mayor. During the last winter, barely 143 residents filed complaints, according to data obtained from the general management.

Unlike salt which becomes encrusted, small gravel does not dissolve. As a result, it requires more cleaning in the spring. But, explains the Deputy Director General of the City, François Lussier, along with the head of the environment division, Julie Gagnon, the municipality carries out mechanical sweeping in one way or another in the spring. They add that the administration recommends that owners unroll a protective cloth over the edge of the lawn exposed to small stones.

Ahead of ecological snow removal, the municipal administration tried to find out from the UMQ what quantities of de-icing salt were purchased jointly by 75 municipalities in the province, in 2024. It claims to have encountered a wall of confidentiality, the Union claiming to no longer be authorized to transmit the information.

“We therefore contacted other cities by telephone to try to get answers. Some do not respond to our calls, others simply refuse to tell us about their salt consumption. It would be interesting for citizens to have access to the tonnages. It gives us the impression that certain cities are ashamed to publish the information,” said Mr. Lussier.

Read our article on the impact of salt on the roads

Consult the Ministry of the Environment's fact sheet on the impacts of salt on aquatic environments