Special Series

Bureau of Reclamation publishing 10 Year Report - The Bureau of Reclamation is scheduled to publish the conclusion report to their 10 year Canal Lining Demonstration Project at the end of September - beginning of October. Jay Swihart & Jack Haynes will be publishing the report. Its predecessor Canal Lining Demonstration project - year 7 is available in the technical documents segment of this web site.

Geomemranes Guide de Choix is a newly released book authored by André L. Rollin, Patrick Pierson & Stéphane Lambert. Published in French this book is 312 pages with 150 figures and photos, and 90 tables. To purchase the book published by International Press, Ecole Polytechnique please contact Europe - Lavoisier edition@Lavoisier.fr - other countries: pip@polymtl.ca

Four award were presented at INDEX 02 to companies who have contributed to advances in the nonwovens industry. The award winners were featured at the Euopean Disposables and Nonwoven Association (EDANA) stand, and their awards consisted of a diploma and a specially commissioned gold and bronze work of art by Jacques Moseschal, the renowned European sculptor. The INDEX awards are considered to be the most improtant in the nonwovens industry, awarded only once every three years by a team of experts from EDANA, according to the trade association. In the durable finished porduct category Benyoussef Bisbis of DuPont Nonwovens de Nemours, Luxembourg, received an award for DuPont Xavan Pond Liner, a smart landscaping fabric for ponds. The pond liner is a multi-layer composite for water ponds consisting of DuPont's olefin polymers, extruded in layers on DuPont Xavan spunbonded polypropylene.

GMA is reintroducing the book "Geofoam Geosynthetic" written by Professor John S. Horvath, a well-known expert on geofoam, the book provides an exhaustive review of world literature on this topic..

PVC Prices Rise in February - Plastics News (March 15) reports PVC prices are up 2 cents/lb since February 1st while PE is up 3 c/lb since January 1st. PVC manufacturers are trying for a 2c/lb increase on each of 1 March and 1 April. PE manufacturers will try for 4 c/lb in early February but ChevronPhillips went for 2c/lb on HDPE for mid February. Dow then changed to 2c/lb for HDPE and 4c/lb for other PEs for 1 March. These are 5 to 10% increases. 3/18/02 Plastics News (March 18) reports PVC prices are up 2 cents/lb since February 1st. PS has increased 3c/lb. Although sales of PP were up 4% in 2001 compared to 2000, sales of fibers and filaments decreased by 7%. PS sales were down almost 7% in 2001.

IECA Call for New Products - IECA has a new concept for a New Product Sumposium. This new concept came to life because of members' requests for more information about new technologies, and because of technology innovators' requests for a venue to demonstrate their products during our Conferences. The process for participating is similar to our procedure for papers. You need to submit an abstract of your new product, detailing why it is new and different (see IECA's Call for Presentations brochure for more info). If your product is accepted, you will have a minimum of 15 minutes to present your product to attendees at IECA's 34th Annual Conference and Expo in Las Vegas, Feb. 24-28, 2003. The deadline for abstract submittal is April 5, 2002. For more information visit: http://www.ieca.org Learn more here.;

Gundle/SLT Environmental, Inc Announces Fourth Quarter and Year-End 2001 Results - GSE today announced earnings of $550,000, or $.05 per share, for the quarter ended December 31, 2001, compared to a net loss of $600,000, or $.05 per share for the same period in 2000. Revenues for the fourth quarter of 2001 were $45.5 million, compared to $44.1 million for the fourth quarter of 2000.

SEATTLE, WA, January 29 / 2002 — Layfield Geosynthetics & Industrial Fabrics Ltd., a North American Geosynthetics Manufacturer, announces its expansion into California and the South Western United States. Layfield is also pleased to announce the recruitment of Mr. Brad Miller as the company’s Business Development Manager for the US Southwest region.

Founded in 1994, Steel Dragon Enterprise Co, Ltd. brings together over 50 years of combined experience in the geosynthetic industry. A Sino-American operated business venture, with American based management, our corporate offices are located in Taipei, Taiwan. Learn more here.;

I-Corp International and Larry Well, retired CH2M-Hill in-house geosynthetics specialist, have recently worked together on a number of liner leak location surveys (including a GCL-only liner) and one failure analysis project, in the northwest USA. This liaison strengthens I-Corp's geosynthetic materials performance and nondestructive testing expertise particularly in GCLs and the soils adjacent to geosynthetics. Contact Larry at larry@geosynthetic.com or (503) 297-2116 or through Ian Peggs at icorp@geosynthetic.com or (561) 369-0795.

Update - It is understood that the PP deal with Firestone will be completed at the end of January. Also we reported that Daelim (Korea) was closing their HDPE geomembrane manufacturing line - this was not correct. We now understand that they have stopped producing HDPE geomembrane resin but that geomembrane is still being made using other manufacturer's resin.

Approximately 180 people attended the 15th GRI Conference on Hot Topics in Geosynthetics - II and a large number of associated meetings, in Houston, TX in mid December 2001.

HOUSTON, Jan. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Gundle/SLT Environmental, Inc. (NYSE: GSE) announced today that it has agreed to acquire the stock of Serrot International, Inc. (SII) from Waste Management, Inc. (NYSE: WMI) (WMI) for $30 million. Closing of the acquisition is expected to take place in the next few days.

Just some news updates in the Industry: Staff Industries, one of the first companies involved with geomembranes, has sold its facilities to developers and will cease geomembrane business. HPG International has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy due primarily to a major reduction in sales to the electronics industry. BP/Amoco has decided not to sell the Fabrics and Fibers group.

PGI Tech Notes November 15, 2001- This Tech notes files is designed to keep you informed of the ongoing technical work done by the PGI

Announcing New www.4spe.org- Society of Plastics Engineers requests the pleasure of your company to visit our newly redesigned website at http://www.4spe.org The website has been completely refurbished. Learn more here.;

Fluoro-Seal acquires Nampac technology - Fluoro-Seal of Houston will handle the fluorine treating of high density polyethylene containers for North America Packaging Corp. of Raleigh under an alliance announced Nov. 26. Fluoro-Seal acquired Nampac's Polyfluor technology and fluorine treatment facility in St. Joseph, MO. Fluoro-Seal will relocate treatment work now occurring at Nampac plants in Toccoa, Ga. and Indianapolis. Nampac customers gain global access to fluorine treatment options at 22 Fluoro-Seal sites.

BP cuts PP line in Texas, jobs in Scotland - British Petroleum chose to shut down 450 million pounds of Polypropylene capacity 11/8/01 at its Chocolate Bayou plant in Alvin, TX. Also BP is cutting about 320 million pounds of polyethylene capacity at its petrochemical complex in Grangemouth, Scotland. The firm also gained 850 million pounds of capacity in Deer Park, TX, on 11/1/01 when it closed a deal in which BP obtained Solvay SA's PP business in exchange for BP's engineering resins units.

PolyOne closing 3 more plants- PVC compounding plants in Burlington and Farmingdale, NJ, and a polyethylene compounding plant in Valleyfield, Quebec, will close by the end of 2002, eliminating about 300 jobs. PVC compounding also will be stopped in St. Remi de Napierville, Quebec, although powder compound and plasticizer production will continue at that site. PolyOne's engineering films business in Burlington will not be affected by the closing of the PVC compounding plant there. Laboratory operation at Burlington and Farmingdale also will close. PolyOne expects about 25 lab employees to transfer to Avon Lake, where the company will expand its existing lab facilities.

Polk County landfill tests cover system that could boost performance and cut costs - Polk County North Central Landfill (FL) has just completed 16.5 acres of exposed green 60 mil textured HDPE geomembrane cap. Steve Laux at Jones, Edmunds & Associates was the project manager. The geomembrane was fastened down in anchor trenches about 60 ft apart to resist uplift from winds up to 80 mph. To prevent the pull of material under contraction stresses to one end of the cap, every other panel was anchored along both edges and the panels between were welded on each edge to the panels previously installed, as shown in the figure. Use of an exposed geomembrane reduced installation costs from $144,000 per acre to about $65,000 per acre - a significant saving.

ASTM will have new name- To more accurately reflect their long-standing role as a developer of international standards, beginning in 2002, ASTM will have a new name - ASTM International. Remember you can choose from over 11,000 ASTM Standards and individual standards can be downloaded as you need them. Average cost is $30.00. Learn more here.;

Rapra report looks at PE, PP use vs. PVC - Rapra Technology Ltd. has a new report revealing technological progress, material advances and growing markets are contributing to the region's plastic pipe industry. The report looks at the growing use of polyethylene and polypropylene instead of PVC in pipe production and how innovative installation techniques, such as trenchless technologies, are leading to new applications. To receive "The European Plastic Pipes Market" - +44 (193) 925-0383 (vox) or email: ruth@rapra.net

GIGSA November Newsletter - To open this newsletter, you will need Winzip to decompress the file and Adobe Acrobat reader to see the newsletter. If you don't have these freeware programs, they can be downloaded off the Internet at http://www.tucows.saix.net

Steuler - Surface Protective Systems- Protection & Service (Mechanically anchored lining systems for concrete systems) and Bekaplast System (Chemically resistant and mechanically anchored thermoplastic lining).

New Test Method for Tensile Testing - Just wanted to let everyone know that the new test method for tensile testing of non reinforced geomembranes will be available through the ASTM website in the next 2-3 weeks. This new test method is ASTM D6693-01 Learn more here.;