Media Coverage

EcoTraction, a salt alternative featured on CBC Television’s Dragons’ Den, is a popular product option often used on icy walkways. Co-founder Mark Watson says that if more attention was paid to the life-cycle impacts of road clearing practices, road operators would be more likely consider products such as his—a volcanic mineral that provides better friction than sand, with less weight and less potential to clog stream beds or damage green spaces. Sand is used by most road operators for road traction, especially when temperatures drop below road salt’s window of effect.

“EcoTraction is the ideal alternative for eco-sensitive areas where there are immediate concerns to health from salt use. Sidewalks or secondary roadways in around parks, bodies of water or near LEED certified buildings and historic structures such as the Rideau Canal or the [Canadian] Parliament Buildings would be a great place to start”.

What’s the most environmentally friendly way to clear snow? …Conventional salt and ice melters can hurt plants, leach harmful chemical residues into the water supply and harm pets. Many companies have come out with more animal- and eco-friendly alternatives, which include EcoTraction, made with volcanic minerals…

Irish Wire Products is distributing EcoTraction, an alternative to grit, salt and sand, in co-op and hardware stores and nationwide. The compound is a green-coloured volcanic mineral that is “completely safe to touch or accidentally ingest by children, pets, and wildlife… Ice melters are toxic substances and it is essential that potential after effects are considered especially when used around eco-sensitive areas.

Keynote speech by Toronto Mayor David Miller (Canada) who said, ‘the city of Toronto would be a great place to use it…’

They tried this environmentlally friendly product as an alternative to deicing salt and sand during their Feb. 2009 annual winter carnival and found that it worked better than sand and prevented the problems they normally face with sand and salt. The village received a lot of positive feedback from staff and visitors, with zero slips and falls incident reported. They also didn’t face the need for clean up in the spring required when using sand.

Here at the Green-Up office we use a product called EcoTraction that is derived from volcanic minerals. The company claims it has zero impact on the environment and will eventually turn into dust after enough pedestrian traffic.

EcoTraction is in more than 4,000 stores including national chains such as Canadian Tire, Home Hardware, Home Depot, Metro grocery stores, Shoppers Drug Mart, and Wholefoods… It’s the third arm of their business — contracts with municipalities — that they’re working on now.

While cities are looking for effective alternatives to salt, and putting themselves on a salt diet, homeowners can do a few things to help….EcoTraction provides good grip underfoot, as an alternate to sand.

The City of Charlottetown is cutting back on its use of road salt this year and switching to amore environmentally friendly way to keep people from slipping on the ice at Victoria Park… The product, called EcoTraction, won’t melt the ice like salt does, but the green granules of volcanic rock will stick to the ice and provide traction, Hendricken said.

Watch an interview with Mark Watson during the live screening of Dragons’ Den November 11th.

“The product doesn’t melt snow and ice — the granules of volcanic rock simply sink into the ice, embedding themselves to create a pebbly sandpaper surface with plenty of traction. EcoTraction doesn’t corrode cars, damage lawns and gardens or cause costly repairs to roads and bridges. It’s an effective, non-toxic, non-polluting alternative to the chemical- laden crystals we scatter on the driveway every winter. “

“On Wednesday November 11th at 8pm, EcoTraction will again be featured on the top rated CBC Dragons’ Den TV show where viewers will have the opportunity to see how this green product has experienced unprecedented growth despite the tough economic conditions.”

“When he [Brett Wilson, Earth Innovations Director] was finished, the audience immediately came to its feet. With all due respect to the other speakers of the day, it appeared to me that Mr. Wilson was the only one who received a genuine standing ovation from the crowd. Indeed, it seemed the audience responded to his extreme humility and humanity. His overt emotional reactions to the pains of his own story struck a chord with the audience.”

“Although Trump was the main attraction, it was Brett Wilson who stole the audience’s hearts… He received a long, standing ovation after he finished his talk… Wilson has invested in a couple of Ottawa companies. One, called EcoTraction, presented its road salt alternative on Dragon’s Den, a venture- capitalist TV show on which Wilson is a panelist, and got backing from all five of the dragons.”

“If this bag looks familiar, you’ve been watching CBC’s Dragons’ Den. That’s where a couple of entrepreneurs first unveiled their eco-friendly product…”

“Finally a green and healthy alternative to road salt is available. Called EcoTraction®, it’s made from a porous volcanic mineral that – like a sponge…”

“The best product I’ve seen this season is EcoTraction, a volcanic mineral developed by a couple of dudes from Ottawa that acts as a totally green…”

“The village [Saranac Lake] has received a one-ton donation of EcoTraction from the Canadian company that produces it… the ground it [ice palace] sits on will be getting the green treatment to keep palace visitors from slipping.”

“A Canadian company announced today that it is establishing a program to help American cities cope with the high financial and environmental cost of road salt. …The first gift of ‘EcoTraction’, a product manufactured in America, was accepted by the Mayor’s Office of the City of Chicago.”