Agendas for your upcoming meeting are now being posted to the "Member's Only" area of your Committee web page, as the deadline for their receipt has arrived. Agendas will be accepted and posted up to the meeting date. Please continue to regularly check the site for new postings as they are submitted by subcommittee chairpersons.

Basell's price for all grades of polyethylene and polypropylene has been increased by Eur 150 per tonne. If costs continue to climb, so may the prices. At the same time, heightening demand from resin converters has caused Dow Europe to increase its prices for Lighter PET Resins by Eur 130 per tonne.

From the May issue of GFR, author Robert Koerner examines the benefits and short-comings of certification programs.

General Manager, Mr. Enrique Saavedra is pleased to announce that SL Limitada (formerly Serrot Chile Limitada) has a new line devoted to the market outside of Latin America that will expand their capacity to 1800 MT a month. A new commercial grade membrane has been developed. This enables SL Limitada to provide 5 new products to the market not available at this time. Negotiations for a third line are currently in the works. For more information, Mr. Saavedra can be reached at EnriqueJSaavedra@cs.com.

Article written by Maxine Topping, Staff Manager, Committee D35. ASTM International Committee D35 on Geosynthetics was formed in 1984 as a global forum for the development of consensus standards and to disseminate knowledge dealing with geosynthetics.

A new center, formed by the Geosynthetic Institute, called The Center for Polymeric Reinforcement of Structures (CPReS), will focus on polymeric reinforced walls (modular block walls, and others), polymer reinforced steep soil slopes, and polymeric reinforced foundation systems (over pile foundations, spanning voids, etc.). The center will function under the guidance and direction of Dr. Grace Hsuan (with activities at Drexel University) who has proposed and will be involved with testing using the Stepped Isothermal Method (SIM), Dr. Dov Leschinsky (with activities at the University of Delaware) who has proposed and willl be involved with design considerations when encountering limited space for full reinforced lengths, and Dr. George Koerner (with activities at the Geosynthetic Institute) who has proposed and will be involved with building a small segmental retaining wall at GSI (needed to accommodate the GSI air conditioning condensers) with pH monitoring directly between the blocks. Dr. Bon Koerner will serve in an advisory role.

Please note that with immediate effect, the Kaytech Head Office and Kwazulu-Natal Branch telephone numbers change to: (031) 717 2300 (callers within South Africa), (+27) 31 717 2300 (International callers). Please adjust your records, as soon you will not be able to reach us on the old number. Our fax numbers remain unchanged. Our Cape Town and Johannesburg numbers also remain unchanged.

NAGS President, David Suits, wants the Board of Directors to emphasize technology transfer in the form of conferences dedicated to peer reviewed papers which will go beyond (most likely in 2004) the current planned co-sponsored 2003 conference with the Canadian Geotechnical Society and the International Association of Hydrologists.

The President of Atlantic Thread and Supply Co. in Baltimore, Mr. Diaz is a 2002 recipient of the ASTM International Committee E02 Frank Reinhart Award for his outstanding and ususual contribution to ASTM in the area of terminology standardization. He has almost thirty years experience in the thread and yarn industries, producing geotextiles, and aircraft composite components. Committee E02 works with the development and maintenance of standards for terminology, the management and use of terminology, and the promotion of the knowledge and the use of principles and theories of terminology.

The 2003 International Association of Geosynthetic Installers Membership Directory is now available in .pdf format. The International Association of Geosynthetic Installers strives to provide a forum for geosynthetic installers to advance installation and construction techniques, and to strengthen the knowledge, image and communication within the industry. Part A - Editorial, IAGI Board Members, Installers (.pdf 439 KB) and Part B - Manufacturers and Distributors, Technical Services, Membership Directory, Ad Index