Containment

AMI's "Plastics in Photovoltaics 2011" will be held in Philadelphia 20-21 September 2011. The conference will cover renewable energy as an expanding global market to provide sustainable power sources, while offering a unique networking and sourcing opportunity for module manufacturers, solar power companies, polymer and processing experts, and suppliers to the industry. Organizers have announced the program. Visit the conference website for details. Learn more here.;

Roadway integrity can be undermined by poor drainage on the surface and in the subgrade of the road. The new GSE RoaDrain™ geocomposite drainage system has been engineered...

Geomembrane fabrication can provide significant cost savings for geosynthetic barrier installations. EPI shares a video from a wastewater treatment plant project. GEOMEMBRANE FABRICATION ADVANTAGES Prefabrication of geomembrane panels can provide significant cost...

The Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) has run a highly successful series of monthly webinars over the past few years. The webinar offerings will increase in 2017, with two sessions per...

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), an independent, nonpartisan entity, is tasked with investigating how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. Among its central work is auditing agency operations for or advising agencies on more efficient and effective spending considerations. It stands as no small matter, then, that two Congressional figures have submitted a letter to the GAO requesting the performance of a study "to investigate the life cycle costs and benefits of incorporating innovative materials in pavements." Geosynthetics can play a welcomed role here. Read more.

Maccaferri's coastal structures are designed, produced, and installed to stand against the forces of Mother Nature. This was apparent after Super Storm Sandy hit the Northeastern United States in October 2012. Maccaferri's existing coastal structures protected homes and natural shorelines from storm surge damage and erosion. Links are provided here to fuller stories on each project, one of which involves revisiting how a 2010 installation held up to Sandy.

Singapore public water agency, PUB, has accepted the recommendations of the Expert Panel for Drainage Design and Flood Protection Measures and has announced an action plan to strengthen Singapore’s flood resilience. Among the solutions for the densely populated island is lining of stormwater canals to improve water removal.

The American Coal Ash Association (ACAA) has named Thomas H. Adams as its new executive director. Adams replaces David C. Goss, who is retiring. Adams has served as the executive director of the American Shotcrete Association for the last six years and in leadership roles for several concrete industry associations over the last 30 years. Learn more here.;

The 11th International Conference on Geosynthetics (11ICG) will be held 16 – 21 September 2018 in Seoul, Korea at the new COEX (Conference and Exhibition Center) in the...

Rick Mills writes on acid mine drainage, the need for strong environmental controls, and the importance of mining and mineral extraction to Canada's economy. Learn more here.;

In this episode of GeoTalk, we check in with Tom Williams, a 40-year veteran of disturbed land reclamation work, much of which has been in connection with mining. Mining activities...

The Request for Proposal Database (RFPdb) was created to facilitate the submission and sharing of competitive bidding business opportunities between organizations and contracting firms/independent contractors. The RFP pool is extremely broad, including construction, tourism, public relations, web design, and much more. The goal of the RFPdb is to provide a public site for organizations to post their Requests for Proposals (RFP) to a centralized location. Registration is free but required. More than 50,000 users have registered to date. Learn more here.;

Water and sand seeping beneath the Wood River Levee could cause the land barrier to fail, but only if Mississippi River levels surpass those of the 1993 flood, officials said Thursday. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is monitoring the underseepage in the area near the Melvin Price Locks and Dam while also planning short- and long-term remedies. Learn more here.;

A rail yard in Utah has been in operation since the first transcontinental railroad reached the area in 1869. Four major railroad companies have used the rail yard for switching, maintenance of locomotives, and transferring cargo. A DNAPL tar plume was discovered running from the northern end of the yard under an adjacent highway and into a neighboring pond. HDPE geomembrane and Organoclay Reactive Core Mat from CETCO were used to remediate the site. Read more.

The International Erosion Control Association (IECA) has joined the Constant Contact Business Partner Program to provide members and other industry professionals with easy-to-use email marketing, event marketing and online survey products to help them build strong, lasting customer relationships. Constant Contact®, Inc. is a leading provider of email marketing, event marketing and online survey tools for organizations and businesses.

Lynn Merrill, writing for Waste Age, reviews a number of interesting alternative daily covers (ADCs) in the landfill business. One of the more interesting notes, however, comes from a Maryland site at which two landfill cells were constructed simultaneously in order to make construction more economical. Polyethylene covers from Raven are being used to protect the cell liners and leachate collection system while the cells are not in active use. Learn more here.;

Oil and gas company Williams has been struggling with pit liner code changes that would require the landfilling of liners--only much of the company's operations have been in a county which lacks a landfill that will accept the liners. The company sought alternative uses and found an intriguing one: the nonwoven geotextile cushion and geomembrane are separated, and then they are sent to facilities in Utah and Colorado to be converted into asphalt and non-food grade plastics. Learn more here.;

The American Public Works Association (APWA) has announced the creation of a new infoNOW community dedicated to sustainability. APWA's infoNow communities are email networks consisting of public works professionals (based on subject area) who share questions, answers, real-life experiences and updates on various policy initiatives of interest to the community. With the introduction of the Sustainability infoNOW community, APWA now offers 17 email networks interaction among peers and colleagues. The Sustainability infoNOW community is an active forum for the exchange and announcement of issues specific to sustainability, including such issues as the triple bottom line, livable communities, best management practices and updates from the APWA Center for Sustainability.

By Lee Buchsbaum - The sweeping new federal rules on handling and storage of coal ash may lead to the single largest increase in the geosynthetics market in 20 years....

When Tropical Cyclone Yasi made landfall on Australia's Queensland coast in February 2011, it presented a major challenge to the coastal infrastructure. This category 5 cyclone--the most-threatening rating--included wind gusts up to 290 km/h (180 mph). Up the Queensland coast it turned from Cardwell to Innisfail, creating a 7m surge that scoured at the shore, destroyed property, and delivered floods that damaged the region's infrastructure. Four significant ELCOROCK® structures took the full force of cyclone Yasi and provided the product with a real test of its capabilities.

The UPC’s Institute of Textile Research and Industrial Cooperation of Terrassa (INTEXTER) leads the European research project MODSIMTEX (Textile Modeling and Simulation). The project will create new technology that can save textile manufacturers metric tons of raw material, time and energy. A consortium of twelve leading European companies and research laboratories will design an intelligent system that can reduce by 75% the time and the raw materials needed to set up the machinery in assembly lines for high value added products. The new system will be ready in just over three years. Read more at Innovations Report. Learn more here.;

Contractors are breaking ground on the long-awaited fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel, a three-year project to relieve traffic congestion in the Oakland, California area. After multiple small tunnel stretches are excavated and reinforced, crews will finish the walls and ceiling by installing a geosynthetic liner to capture drainage water and then add a thick concrete layer reinforced with rebar. Learn more here.;

The new issue of Compounding World magazine, from AMI, is available for viewing online. The February edition includes features on new developments in antioxidants and stabilizers, an analysis of the compounding markets in China and India, machinery and materials innovations for compounding TPEs, and new technologies launched at the Coperion Open House. Plus, all the latest business news, additives developments and new machinery are included. Learn more here.;

By 2041, the City of Vancouver is expected to grow by another million residents to a total population of 3.4 million. The increased population will weigh heavily on the...

In Indiana, the Union-Go Dairy, which experienced a very frustrating but fascinating animal waste lagoon failure in 2008 has received approval to expand its farm with the installation of new lagoons. Following that phase of the project, the dairy will work with the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) on what to do about the failed lagoon. One of the interesting aspects to the whales that developed in Union-Go's installation is that they were concentrated on one half of the lagoon. Learn more here.;