One of my friends is a construction material merchant. In Bavaria, they mostly also sell salt. It is a nice additional income during the long months of winter, when business is otherwise slow.
Now my friend has a problem. There is still salt left which he got at the end of last winter but could not sell at the time. Unless he manages to get rid of it soon, it will rot. Mind you, the salt itself is not the problem, but the containers it is stored in. We are talking light-sensitive sacks which will disperse when UV rays hit them. Yet he cannot cover the sacks, because then the salt will get damp (regardless of the wrapping). Well, it sounds unbelievable, but it seems to be true.
Now winter has to come back for him really soon. Then the storage containers belonging to the municipalities and highways departments will quickly be empty and can be re-filled. Otherwise the salt has to be disposed of, which will cost twice. You cannot simply dump the unused salt somewhere in the environment!
My dilemma, on the other hand, is a trivial one. After all, I believe you always – by definition – dispose of street salt in the environment, With very few exceptions, that is something we could easily do without. It is detrimental for my (bike) material and kills nature.
Here comes a new motto:
Do without, don’t throw it out!
Well, I guess you can apply it to quite a few situations.
RMD
(Translated by EG)