Geosynthetics October/November 2019 - 46

INDUSTRY NEWS
GEO NEWS AND NOTES FROM AROUND THE WORLD
GSI is hosting short course on
MSE walls, berms and slopes
The Geosynthetic Institute (GSI) is
sponsoring an online course, "Course 2:
Construction Inspection of Mechanically
Stabilized Earth (MSE) Walls, Berms
and Slopes," available anytime on the
GSI website. Geosynthetic Materials
Association (GMA) member companies and their employees receive discounted rates on all GSI webinar and
short course registrations.
This online course is focused on the
inspection, monitoring and maintenance of MSE walls, berms and slopes
reinforced with geogrids and geotextiles.
The webinar's instructors are Robert
M. Koerner and George Koerner. This
course costs $750 for GSI and GMA
members, and $1,000 for nonmembers.
Successful completion carries 8 professional development hours (PDH).
For more information or to register,
visit https://geosynthetic-institute.org/
courses.htm.

Environmental Specialties
International acquires
Patriot Environmental
Environmental Specialties International
Inc. (ESI), the largest installer and provider of geosynthetic lining materials
in the United States, announced that it
has acquired Patriot Environmental of
Meeker, Okla., a leading provider and
installer of geosynthetic lining materials
to the oil and gas exploration and production (E&P) industry.
Mark Dillon, ESI's president, said,
"We are very excited to have the Patriot
team join ESI. Patriot's sustained performance and exceptional relationships
with customers are what attracted us to
them. Patriot's 'get 'er done' character,
long-term customer relationships, and
46

Geosynthetics | October November 2019

their highly competent team is a great
culture fit for ESI."
Cody Smithson, Patriot's founder
and president, added, "We have been
approached by a number of companies
over the years interested in partnering
with our company. As Mark stated, we
believe ESI is a great culture fit and provides our team a fantastic opportunity
to offer even greater value and scale to
the industry."

Solmax to establish manufacturing facility in Nevada
Solmax announced that it is expanding its
operations and establishing a manufacturing facility in Nevada. The facility will
be fully operational by mid-2020.
"We continue to capitalize on the
acquisition of the GSE Environmental
business [in 2017], which proved to be
highly successful in terms of profitability in 2018," said Jean-Louis Vangeluwe,
president and CEO of Solmax. "As a
result, our ongoing projects are fundamental to our continued growth and one
of them is to better service our clients
wherever they are located. By establishing a manufacturing base in the western USA, we will decrease our lead time
from the west, reinforce our competitive
advantage and be able to lead the change
by bringing to market innovative products that are more reliable, stronger and
resistant to contaminants."

HUESKER introduces
ecoLine geogrids
HUESKER Inc. launched the world's
first geogrid made from 100% recycled
polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The
market launch starts with the HaTelit C
asphalt reinforcement grid, which has
been established on the market for more

than 40 years and is used for the rehabilitation of asphalt pavements. It is now
available in the ecoLine range, in the
same high quality with the same product
properties. Other ecoLine products are
to follow soon.
"The responsible and careful use of
energy and resources is part of our sustainability strategy and is predominant
throughout the entire value chain," said
Dr. F.- Hans Grandin, managing director
of the HUESKER Group.
The recycled material is produced
from disposed PET bottles, which can be
fed back into the production cycle in the
form of granulate.

TeMa opens South
African office
TeMa Corp. (Technologies and Materials
S.R.L) has opened its wholly owned
African subsidiary, TeMa South Africa.
The business will have its sales office and
stock warehouse based in Johannesburg,
South Africa, and will aim to service the
complete sub-Saharan region of the continent. Darryn Meisel has been appointed
as the new company's CEO and is supported by an experienced technical and
sales team eager and ready to tackle the
new markets.
"Africa has always been an attractive
market for us and a natural fit for TeMa's
expansion strategy into new and exciting
geographical areas," said Nicola Busatta,
TeMa Group CEO. "The market is not
new to TeMa, having supplied several of
our products on numerous occasions in
the past. Having a permanent office and
readily available stock will now allow us
to build on these past successes. Darryn
and his team bring with them a wealth of
experience and knowledge of the market
to further ensure the success and growth
of the new office."

https://www.geosynthetic-institute.org/

Geosynthetics October/November 2019

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