Some places around here use sand, but then it clogs up the storm drains and sewers and those end up having to be flushed. So no, no easy answer.

Although I personally wonder why they haven't/don't manufacture personal home-size melters. They do exist, that's how they clean the runways at airports and congested places in cities where there isn't room for plows to just push it aside. They use a backhoe to dump the snow into the back of these big trucks that melts it into water and then runs the melt into the sewer via pumps and hoses.

Why they have snow blowers and ride-on lawn mowers but don't have home-equipment size melters is beyond me. Most people have a stormdrain/sewer grate at least *somewhere* by their house. And yeah it'd be more work lifting the shovels rather than just pushing them, but to get that crap permanently gone so you don't have to feel like you're living The Shining after a few weeks of deep winter and can see the sidewalk/pavement? I'd undertake the extra work lifting. On a larger scale, they could fill the big industrial size dumpsters with it all and bring it to a setup where it could be melted and pumped away.

When I lived in an apartment and only had the patio/balcony to worry about, I would put the snow in a 5 gallon paint bucket and fill the bathtub with it, spray it with hot water from the shower & open the drain.

I just refuse to believe they can't more permanently get rid of stuff that naturally melts other than throwing salt or sand on it when the machinery DOES exist.