Soil Reinforcement

Mark C. Arnold has been announced as president, CEO and director of Gundle/SLT Environmental, Inc. (GSE), a global geosynthetics manufacturer. Arnold's follows the sudden death of long-time GSE leader Samir Badawi. Like Badawi, Arnold brings considerable international business acumen to GSE. Prior to joining GSE, he served as vice president and general manager at Lubrizol Corporation, where he focused on growth along the Pacific Rim and in India, South America and the Middle East. Additionally, he spent 15 years with polyethylene pipe giant Advanced Drainage Systems Inc. Read more in the release.

Royal Ten Cate N.V.'s first quarter results are expected to continue the strong trend seen in the fourth quarter and boosted by recent acquisitions, although some analysts said there was low visibility on how the company performed this quarter. The North American geosynthetics market remains difficult, however, reports Thomson Financial. Learn more here.;

EuroGeo 6 is nearly here! The quadrennial European Geosynthetics Conference, which was last convened in Spain (2012), will be held 25 - 28 September 2016 in Ljubljana, Slovenia. Ljubljana...

The Society of Plastics Engineers (SPE) has appointed Willem (Wim) De Vos as its new Chief Executive Officer. He succeeds Susan Oderwald, who left SPE in December. Willem De Vos comes to SPE after serving as CEO of the Vitalo Group, a global supplier of plastic packaging and thermoformed products. Previously he managed compounding and processing units of Recticel, an international producer of polyurethane automotive components. He entered the industry in 1991 with technical and sales positions at Eurocompound, a supplier to the textile and automotive industries.

In response to a Nor'easter that hit the coast of Staten Island in March of 2010, a gabion retaining wall was installed along the oceanfront property to protect upland infrastructure from storm damage and wave action. The original wall design consisted of PVC coated galvanized steel gabions, spanning 100' parallel to the shore direction with a 9 ft. vertical height and two 30 ft. return walls at either end. During Super Storm Sandy in October 2012, the storm surge had pushed a large volume of sand and debris upland against the existing wall. While minimal damage was observed in confined places, the wall structure remained intact and fully functional.

Geosynthetics have played a substantial role in making constructions more economical and more sustainable. In honor of Earth Day 2015, we’ve selected five of Geosynthetica’s most popular sustainability-related stories. IGS...

The American Public Works Association (APWA) has extended the early registration rate for the International Public Works Congress and Exposition conference to August 8. The event will be held in Denver, Colorado 18-21 September 2011 and offer more than 125 education sessions, hundreds of exhibitors in nearly 90,000 square feet of exhibit space, and much more. Learn more here.;

The scope of green roofs on skyscrapers is generally more attention-grabbing, but a look at them on a much smaller scale--such as on a sloped garage roof--may be most useful for those who haven't been exposed to the layered technology. Waterproofing membranes, drainage mats, separation fabrics and erosion control blankets are common to both large and small-scale green roofs. Learn more here.;

The current installment of CE News' Civil Connection e-newsletter includes a segmental retaining wall (SRW) design on shipping giant DHL's new, 72-acre site in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Strata Systems' Sleeve-It product enabled the project team to establish a key security fence on what would normally be a difficult site: the top of the wall. The article shows how the installation succeeded. Learn more here.;

The government of India and INDA, a nonwovens industry association, are teaming up to organize nonwovens and geotextile workshops. The aim is to improve the technical textile knowledge base in the country. Learn more here.;

The floods affecting American waterways in 2011 have been, for many communities, historic, as have the engineering solutions being utilized. American Environmental Group, Ltd. (AEGL) has been part of a first-of-its-kind emergency levee protection effort in Mississippi that has used impermeable geomembrane liner to help secure the backside of the Yazoo River Backwater Levee. This emergency strategy, directed by the United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), is designed to prevent catastrophic erosion and failure of the levee in the event the flood water overtopped the levee.

The prehistoric pile dwellings in upper Lake Zurich, Switzerland originated 4000 years ago and were awarded the status of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2011. These unique sites...

Royal Ten Cate (multinational producer of functional materials) is to install an International Advisory Board as a strategic and advisory body to the Executive Board. The International Advisory Board of TenCate will comprise Prof. J.G. de Hoop Scheffer, General (retd.) D.L. Berlijn, and K. Blekxtoon. Read more.

SKZ is holding open its call for speakers for the 7th edition of Geosynthetics Middle East (GEOME 2015) for one more week. The event is the biggest geosynthetics...

The North American Geosynthetics Society (NAGS) has announced the second in its 2014 Webinar Series. On 9 July 2014, Robert Mackey will present "Composite Drainage Nets – Design and...

The Associated Press has published an article on the state of Indiana's coal ash situation. Indiana has considerable coal deposits in the southern portion of the state, and 95% of the state's electricity is generated in coal-fired plants. The coal ash generated from these sites is deposited in 14 storage facilities. The EPA's new order gives plant operators 10 days to supply records of inspections and concerns with all coal ash ponds. The aging nature of Indian's facilities reinforces the notion that modernized ponds, with geosynthetic lining systems, are needed. Learn more here.;

Geosynthetica maintains an employment opportunities page for the geosynthetics industry. For information on posting your company's open positions, contact Elizabeth Peggs at Elizabeth@geosynthetica.net, +1 561 655 2060, or email Chris Kelsey at chris@geosynthetica.net. We encourage interested candidates to contact directly the companies posting on the Employment Page. Currently, two jobs are posted.

SIBUR contracted acquisition of 50% share in the charter capital of BIAKSPLEN LLC, one of the largest Russian manufacturers of biaxially oriented polypropylene film (BOPP). BIAKSPLEN's production facilities include three plants located in Nizhny Novgorod, Kursk and Moscow Regions. The aggregate capacity of BIAKSPLEN product lines is 87 kta. In 2008 BIAKSPLEN consolidated sales reached RUR 3.9 billion. Read more about this acquisition.

Soil reinforcement products specialty company Strata Systems, Inc. has relaunched its www.geogrid.com website. The reinvigorated design, with an emphasis on images that visually display the complexity in geosynthetic soil...

Over at Marketwatch.com, they've picked up the ReportLinker.com press release regarding the study, "Geosynthetics: Materials, Applications and Markets." This market study was original published in March 2008 and relies somewhat on 2007 statistics. But there is no indication that estimations on material needs have been amended based upon changes in the global credit market and government spending estimations. Read about the report directly at RL's website. Learn more here.;

ASTM Committee D35 on Geosynthetics has announced work item, WK41425 - Standard Test Method for Strength of Sewn or Thermally Bonded Seams of Geotextiles. This work item is a...

Dr. Kerry Rowe has been selected to deliver the 2019-2020 Mercer Lecture. The biennial lecture series honors the late Dr. Brian Mercer, the inventor of geogrids. Tensar International sponsors...

The US Army Corp of Engineer (USACE) is racing against the clock to get grass to grow on some elevated levees in New Orleans ahead of the next storm season. The slopes have developed some ruts and are not taking to new seed well. Part of the problem is old, inexact "boilerplate" specifications. Perhaps vegetated erosion contol blankets and turf reinforcement mats (TRMs) merit greater consideration now. Learn more here.;

Tensar International has released the latest issue of GeoTalk. This 19th volume of the company's geosynthetics applications newsletter includes the introduction of TriAx Geogrids in the Americas, steep slope reinforcement, the GlasGrid system in California, saving on railroad track aggregate use, the construction of the new American Indian Cultural Center and Museum (AICCM), and more. Download the issue in PDF. Learn more here.;

The recently launched StrataPro™ geotechnical software platform from Strata Systems, Inc. is a welcomed addition to the tools engineers can use to improve GRS design. Geosynthetically reinforced soil structures...