Containment

Calling the first year of the massive Fox River cleanup process a surprising success, project officials said progress made in 2009 could shorten the $700 million project by an entire year. Geosynthetics are playing a significant role in dewatering and capping. A 10-mile section of the river is being cleaned of PCB contamination stemming from decades of paper mill operations on the water. Learn more here.;

By Robert Koerner - With literally thousands of old landfills scattering the worldwide landscape, their upgrading (via lateral and vertical expansions) to an engineered landfill is clearly possible to...

In Camillus, New York, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) are talking to the public about a plan to dredge contaminated sediment from Onondaga Lake and transport it to a treatment site with double-walled, high-density polyethylene tubes measuring 16 inches in diameter. The water would be filtered out and treated, and the sediment would be stored in geotextile tubes in the sediment consolation area (SCA). Learn more here.;

Five Superfund sites in Missouri will receive nearly $70 million for environmental cleanup and restoration. The money comes from a $1.79 billion settlement with Arizona-based mining company Asarco LLC for cleaning up 80 polluted sites in 19 states. The U.S. Justice Department announced the settlement Thursday. More than $37 million will go toward cleanup of three sites in southeast Missouri: Big River Mine Tailings/St. Joe Minerals Corp.; Federal Mine Tailings; and Madison County Mines. Two sites in southwest Missouri will get $32.8 million. Those sites are Jasper County/Oronogo-Duenweg Mining Belt, and Newton County Mine Tailings. Learn more here.;

World of Coal Ash 2011 will be held in Denver, Colorado 9-12 May 2011. WOCA is an international conference organized by the American Coal Ash Association (ACAA) and the University of Kentucky Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER). The 2011 conference will mark the two organizations' fourth joint biennial meeting. It will again focus on the science, applications and sustainability of coal ash worldwide. As such, it will encompass all aspects of coal combustion products (CCP's) as well as gasification products. Learn more here.;

On Wednesday, 8 October 2014, the North American Geosynthetics Society (NAGS) will host Webinar #3 in its 2014 series of professional development webinars. This time out, R. Jonathan Fannin,...

Since 1970, J.P. Giroud, Ph.D., has worked at the forefront of the geosynthetics field (including coining the terms "geotextile" and "geomembrane", which paved the way for the 'geo-terminology') and earned many accolades for his pioneering work. His many awards and key industry positions include serving as president of the International Geosynthetics Society (IGS), being honored with the establishment of an IGS "Giroud Lecture", being granted 'hero' status by the Geo-Institute of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), being selected to deliver prestigious lectures (e.g. ASCE Terzaghi Lecture, Vienna Terzaghi Lecture, and Mercer Lecture), and being elected Member of the US National Academy of Engineering. This year, on April 2, Dr. Giroud was named a member of the Order of the Legion d'Honneur by a decree signed by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. Established in 1802, the Order is the highest decoration in France. Dr. Giroud has US/French dual citizenship. Read more.

It's been said that a "picture tells a 1000 words." This image from Kingscliff (NSW, Australia) says quite a bit more about the impact of geosynthetics. Geofabrics Australasia was part of this installation of geobags from earlier this year to correct severe beachfront erosion outside a surf life saving club. Note the traditional chunky riprap and its warning sign. And note the beach-goers resting comfortably against the newer, softer (yet stronger) beach protection measure.

Geosynthetics 2009 will be held 25-27 February 2009 in Salt Lake City, Utah. The conference theme is "Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering." Areas of focus include shoreline and water protection, conveyance and storage, mining, agriculture, aquaculture, temporary roads and drainage. The deadline for conference paper proposals is June 2. Read more about submitting abstracts, the review process and key dates. Learn more here.;

The International Geosynthetics Society (IGS) United Kingdom chapter (IGS UK) has unveiled a new website: www.igs-uk.org. The updated design is responsive to the user’s device (laptop, smartphone, tablet) and...

A link to the Wall Street Journal article referenced in the geosynthetica news item "Animal Waste Debate" from 24 September 2008. Learn more here.;

ASTM International Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has named Robert E. Mackey, a partner and senior design engineer at S2L Inc. in Maitland, Florida, as its new chairman. The 300-member committee oversees 130 ASTM standards related to the geosynthetic industry. In addition to his duties as chairman, Mackey also works on several D35 subcommittees and is a past chair of Subcommittee D35.04 on Geosynthetic Clay Liners.

No significant differences in corn yield were found between organic and chemical sources of nutrients, but a Texas AgriLife Research economist said manure generates higher economic returns than anhydrous ammonia. It's possible that this multi-year analysis may further boost arguments for manure management systems that also produce more readily usable fertilizer and perhaps even generate power. Learn more here.;

The Geo-Institute's 2012 annual congress focuses on the "State of the Art and Practice in Geotechnical Engineering" and will be held 25-29 March 2012 in Oakland, California. The conference invites 200-300 word abstracts on topics such as Geosynthetics; Embankments, Dams and Slopes; Earth Retaining Structures; Earthquake Engineering; and much more. Learn more and submit your abstract through April 29. Learn more here.;

An amended release on the 2008-2009 GSI Fellowships awards is now posted. One of the research topics was incorrectly listed in the original release.

Today's unsettled polymer markets have made the process of understanding our future opportunities ever more difficult while at the same time the challenges facing the plastics industry have never been greater. To provide companies with the best tools to achieve future success AMI has revised all its forecasts and trend analysis on a worldwide basis. This data will be presented exclusively to attendees at the "Plastics Industry Strategy Seminar 2010: the Future of the Global Plastics Industry" on 20 May 2010 in Brussels, Belgium. Learn more.

The 2013 International Low Impact Development (LID) Symposium will be held 18–21 August 2013 in Saint Paul, Minnesota. The Draft Program is now available for the 2013 International LID...

To accommodate our continuously expanding operations in Vaughan servicing Ontario and Eastern Canada, Layfield is pleased to announce the opening of its new fabrication and warehousing facility, opened in June 2010. The new facility will offer many benefits, including increased warehousing capacity; easy access to major shipping corridors; new capability to provide quick turnaround fabricated liners with seams up to 250 ft in length; more than 36,000 sq ft of space to stock multiple geosynthetics and other products. Phone contact information remains the same.

The Industrial Fabrics Association International (IFAI) has been honored with a Gold Award for Best Trade Magazine in Association TRENDS' 2009 All-Media Contest. It was one of more than 425 entries in the association publications contest. The TRENDS All-Media Contest is an annual competition held exclusively for associations, recognizing the most creative and effective communication vehicles developed in the industry over the prior year. The 2009 competition included more than 425 entries in 26 categories of association communications

A 20 January 2010 editorial in the New York Times takes a quick look at the issue of coal ash usage and disposal in the United States. The editor is critical of wholesale classification of coal ash as hazardous waste and of the Obama administration and the Envrionmental Protection Agency for not yet releasing proposals. Also, the editor is keen to point out that problems of coal ash in landfills relate more to poorly designed of constructed sites; and that new regulations could help improve landfills and coal ash facilities without ruining the responsible recycling market. Learn more here.;

Voters in the American state of Minnesota have approved a sales tax increase that will go directly to clean water initiatives. The amendment passed with 56 percent of the vote. It is expected to generate roughly $250 million to $275 million in each of its first two years. Key funds will target wetlands preservation and restoration, trail building, and clean water initiatives including potable water protection. Learn more here.;

At CIMTEC 2010--a multiple symposia gathering on new technologies and materials for various fields--one of the symposia in the 5th International Forum of New Materials is on the subject of "Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conversion: Materials and Technology Challenges." It will be held 13-18 June 2010 in Montecatini Terme, Italy. One of the four areas for which papers/presentations are invited is "thin-film photovoltaics." Another is "PV devices, modules, systems and applications." This may tie-in nicely with recent integrations between exposed geomembrane caps and thin-film solar laminates. Also, another symposium at CIMTEC will be "Materials Technology for Nuclear Waste Treatment and Disposal." This marks another important area in which geosynthetic capping systems are being used. Abstracts will be accepted through 7 November 2009. Download the PDF brochure with details on each symposium. Learn more here.;

The Executive Board of Royal Ten Cate (TenCate) has appointed Dave Clarke (52) as new Global Group Director TenCate Advanced Composites, effective 1 January 2011. The Executive Board of Royal Ten Cate has appointed Wally Moore (46), former Group Director TenCate Geosynthetics Europe, as Global Group Director TenCate Geosynthetics, effective since 1 July 2010. Jorg Huber (66), the current Global Group Director TenCate Advanced Composites, will retire from TenCate at the end of this year and will continue to share his experience with TenCate as an external member of the Board of Royal Ten Cate USA.

A San Jose-based BioFuelBox Corp. plans to take biowaste normally dumped in landfills and convert the waste into biodiesel. Roughly 350 billion gallons of diesel are used each year; only about 450 million gallons of that are biodiesel. The company’s initial focus is on fats, oils and greases extracted from wastewater. An agreement with a major meat-producing company in Arkansas has been announced. Learn more here.;

In its Titan Times 2018 Year in Review magazine, Titan Environmental delivers a strong account of geosynthetic growth for its company and the geotechnical field in general. The increasing scale of...