How Clintar Has Evolved For Sustainable Winter Services

At Clintar Commercial Outdoor Services, we know all about Canadian winters.

Since 1973, we have offered decades of award-winning solutions to landscaping, snow removal and outdoor property services all across Canada!

While the needs of our clients have evolved over the years, so have the needs of our planet.

Built on quality and innovation, we make sure that our company’s environmental efforts go far beyond our day-to-day operations.

Clintar C.A.R.E.S:

With the recent announcement of our Clintar C.A.R.E.S initiative in October 2019, we are committed to crafting a long-term plan to help lower greenhouse gas emissions, decrease our collective carbon footprint and safeguard our planet’s natural resources.

Clintar C.A.R.E.S is about making real changes to the way humans impact the environment, and we make sure our services do the same!

As Snow Magazine’s Top Canadian Snow & Ice Removal Company for 2019 (and second in North America), we are proud to offer outdoor commercial services with future generations in mind.

The Evolution of Our Winter Services:

Over the past few decades, our company has evolved with the changing needs of our industry.

With a focus on social responsibility, we are committed to upholding an environment-first culture and rooting our standards in the preservation of our natural resources.

By implementing sustainable upgrades to our services, we have the opportunity to reflect on what has been done in the past, what we are doing now, and how we can improve our processes going forward.

Let’s take a look at how some of our winter services have evolved over time:

1. Ice Removal/Prevention:

For decades, bulk rock salt (sodium chloride) has been the most widely-used product to melt snow and ice on roads and parking lots throughout North America as it is the most cost effective solution available.

While this remains common practice for our outdoor commercial services, research has shown that sodium chloride is harmful to plant life, freshwater resources, animals and even human health.

As a result, Clintar has looked to reduce our rock salt usage during the winter months.

How Have We Evolved?

Over the past few years, we have been experimenting with a variety of liquid de-icing products, including salt brine.

With a mixture of salt and water, salt brine is able to cover more areas without the risk of scattering to curb lines, ditches or surrounding landscapes.

We have also found major benefits in pre-treating bare asphalt with salt brine prior to snowfalls.

Through this process, we have been able to:
– minimize the amount of snow that adheres to the pavement
– improve the ability for a clean plow
– decrease the amount of rock salt used
– lower the need for return visits
– minimize fuel usage

By adopting Best Practices recommended by the Smart About Salt Council, we are able to use less chlorides for the job, which also minimizes the risk of damage to the infrastructure, wildlife and environment nearby.

2. Plowing/Trucks/Machinery:

In our early years, almost all of our snow clearing services were done using 4×4 pickup trucks with blades.

As a large number of 4×4’s would be required to keep up with the weather demands, this approach was not the most eco-friendly.

Unfortunately, there is not much available yet in hybrid/battery-powered equipment that works well for the snow-clearing industry.

With the risk of high emissions, we actively sought out a more sustainable plan.

How Have We Evolved?

Over the years, we have been able to upgrade our equipment to front end loaders and agricultural tractors equipped with wider and more efficient blades.

With newer engine technologies now on the market, we at Clintar ensure that our fleet is always up-to-date and environmentally responsible.

Replacing our previous 4×4’s with a fleet of fewer large-scale units have also helped us reduce emissions and lower our carbon footprint all across the country.

With recent advances in plow technology, wide single-edged blades are slowly being phased out and replaced by sectional plows.

These units can more closely follow the contours of paved areas, so our plows are able to clear to a cleaner surface with less residual snow or need for salt.

3. Efficiency & Wasted Resources:

As a large corporate company, we at Clintar understand the social responsibility in playing our part.

While the habits of businesses today can directly impact the well-being of future generations, we are committed to pursuing business practices that protect the integrity of our clients, as well as our planet.

By coupling sectional plows with salt brine pre-treatments, we have been able to achieve major improvements to the quality and efficiency of our winter services.

As our company continues to evolve, our teams of professionals will continue to stream-line our processes, reduce wasted resources and improve the speed and quality of our services.

Our Plans For The Future:

Environmental sustainability has always been a part of Clintar’s company culture.

As we work hard to evolve our practices to the current trends of our industry, we have taken technological advancements very seriously!

Last season we installed 15 site weather monitoring stations that remotely report snow cover and air temperature.

This season, we have installed another 15 (some equipped with pavement temperature capabilities) allowing us to closely monitor weather changes without having to travel from site to site.

This new technology will allow us to make better service decisions based on real-time conditions, decrease our carbon footprint and better tend to our clients with the quality of service they deserve!

With our new Clintar C.A.R.E.S initiative fresh on our radar, we look forward to future developments towards a greener company, and a greener planet.

If you would like to learn more about our environment-first initiatives, please feel free to contact us for more details.