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The Ubiquitous Salt bins

Salt bins also known as salt bins are street furniture that are commonly found in places where freezing temperatures and snowfall is common. These sturdy containers are used to hold salt and grit mixture which are used on snow covered and unsafe sidewalks and roadways.

There are two things that happen once the mixture from the grit bins are spread on a snow covered ground. First, ice is turned into liquid with the help of the salt portion of the mixture which lowers the melting point of the snow. This is a chemical process where the sodium chloride absorbs ambient heat allowing the sunshine, no matter how little, to melt the ice and snow. The grit in the mixture will then provide the physical change as it provides traction in the slippery surface. Grit often is a mixture of woodchips, sand, and pebbles to provide tires and under soles the traction to prevent slipping during the travel over the road and the sidewalks.

The use of grit bins are a better alternative than the common practice of shoveling snow or having snow trucks with salt spread clear the road from snow. Besides from being expensive, snow trucks also require high maintenance as well. Alternatively, Grit Bins are easy to manage and are affordable as well. Driving can be very risky on snow covered roads as it often leads to the wheels spinning out of control and leading to accidents. Snow covered sidewalks, on the other hand, presents risks on passersby who have a huge possibility of slipping and suffering from injuries because of it.

Grit bins, on the other hand, are only mere containers that store the grit mixture. The salt-grit mixture is supplied by the local councils during their delivery runs. The act of spreading the mixture on the roadways and sidewalks is another issue. It actually depends on the local councils if they will also be the one providing the grit spreading service of if they will ask some of the local townsfolk to help. The last option will require communities to shovel in spread the grit mixture in certain parts of their neighborhoods in shifting schedules.

Concrete and stone were the first materials used for grit bins but they proved ineffective because they became easily brittle and lost their effectivity in a short period of time. Because of this problem, it was decided that polyurethane plastic should be used as the material instead. These grit bins still experience damages but this time it is not because of the weather but the people who have a habit of vandalizing them. There are also problems about leaving the lid of this bin open which renders the mixture useless because of the sun and rain and tipping it over leading to the spilling of its contents carelessly on the floor.

From these, it can be seen Grit Bins have huge role in places that experience extreme weather conditions. They keep salt-grit mixture that is essential to keep roads and sidewalks safe.