The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) is pleased to welcome its newest Manufacturer Member, Plastika Kritis (PK). Founded in 1970, Plastika Kritis is a leading European manufacturer of geomembranes and other plastic products, and a pioneer in blown film extrusion. In 1999 the company was listed on the Athens Stock Exchange.

PK specializes in high-performance geomembranes, such as EVOH barriers, and has supplied millions of square feet to projects globally for a variety of applications, including landfill lining and capping, water reservoirs, irrigation canals, earth dams, agriculture, construction, and more.

PK operates10 cutting-edge facilities in 7 countries and produces in-house premium additives and compounds used for its geomembranes and liners. The global footprint allows PK to supply its customers competitively, quickly, and securely. PK has a sales office in New York and the FGI liaison is Yannis Lempidakis, Business Development Manager, who can be reached at yl@plastikakritis.com.  Please help us welcome Plastika Kritis to the FGI!!!!

Top FGI Headlines for Winter 2024:

- FGI at GeoAmericas 2024 Conference

- FGI Offering Short Course on Subgrade Prep & Use of GCLs with Flexible Geomembranes Internationally

- FGI Hydropower Research Project

- FGI 1120 Now Available in Portuguese

- Upcoming FGI Webinars

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Join us for an online short course that will focus on subgrade preparation for installation of flexible geomembranes. In addition, the course will focus on the use of geosynthetic clay liners (GCLs) with flexible geomembranes to create a composite barrier system. This course will describe the requirements for subgrade preparation before a flexible geomembrane is installed, such as maximum rock size allowed, presence of water, and smooth rolling the surface before geomembrane installation. This course will also present information on the hydraulic performance, chemical resistance, shear strength, and installation of GCLs with flexible geomembranes.

3.0 PDH, Free

Part 1: Subgrade Preparation - April 9, 2024 -12-1:30 pm CDT - Presented by Dr. Timothy D. Stark (University of Illinois)

Part 2: Use of GCLs with Flexible Geomembranes - April 10, 2024 -12-1:30 pm CDT - Presented by Marat Goldenberg, P.E. (CETCO)

Register Today

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) is pleased to welcome its newest Installer Member, COMANCO Environmental Corporation. COMANCO is an environmental, commercial, and civil construction company specializing in constructing containment facilities. For 35 years, COMANCO has provided turnkey geosynthetic installations for clients worldwide. Their sustainable containment solutions benefit clients from a variety of industries like waste management, water treatment, gas extraction, mining, energy, and more. An established name in Geosynthetics, COMANCO is known for completing all projects according to their core values of safety, quality, and service. The company headquarters is in Plant City, Florida and their FGI liaison is Trevor Topp, QA/QC Coordinator, who can be reached at tatopp@comanco.com. Please help us welcome COMANCO Environmental Corporation to the FGI!!!!

Top FGI Headlines for Winter 2024:

- FGI Creates Factory Fabrication Guideline

- FGI Offering Short Course on Subgrade Prep & Use of GCLs with Flexible Geomembranes

- FGI On-Demand CQA Course & Certification Exam

- FGI Featured Technical Topics

- Upcoming FGI Webinars

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The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute(FGI) is pleased to welcome its newest Government/Regulatory Agency Member, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (Iowa DNR).  

The mission of the Iowa DNR is to conserve and enhance our natural resources in cooperation with individuals and organizations to improve the quality of life in Iowa and ensure a legacy for future generations. The Iowa DNR manages fish and wildlife programs, ensures the health of Iowa’s forests and prairies, and provides recreational opportunities in Iowa’s state parks. Just as importantly, the Iowa DNR carries out state and federal laws that protect air, land, and water through technical assistance, permitting, and compliance programs. The Iowa DNR also encourages the enjoyment and stewardship of natural resources among Iowans through outreach and education.

The FGI liaison is Brian L. Rath, P.E., Environmental Engineer Senior in the Solid Waste and Contaminated Sites Section, who can be reached at brian.rath@dnr.iowa.gov. Please help us welcome the Iowa Department of Natural Resources to the FGI!!!!

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) is pleased to welcome its newest manufacturer member, Burke Industries LLC. Burke offers a highly diversified portfolio of elastomeric solutions for construction, aerospace, the armed forces, and a wide range of commercial applications. Burke has their own product lines in roofing, pond-liners, and aerospace. Their experienced team ensures consistent results and high-performance solutions, time after time. Burke was founded in 1942 by Roscoe Burke in San Jose, CA, where it is still headquartered today. The FGI liaison is Kevin Sroka, who can be reached at kevin.sroka@mannington.com or www. burkeind.com. Please help us welcome Burke Industries to the FGI!!!!

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) is pleased to welcome its newest Fabricator/Installer member, Fabtech.  Established in 1986 and incorporated in 1994,Fabtech has extensive experience as a leading geomembrane installer in Australia, as well as an international presence.  Fabtech is a proven leader in the multi-disciplined technology that encompasses the lining and covering of dams, reservoirs, landfills, effluent lagoons, tunnels, irrigation channels and tanks.  At the forefront of its industry, Fabtech has installed over 10 million square meters of geomembrane liners and covers in Australia, the PacificRim, UAE, Eastern Europe and New Zealand. The company headquarters are located in Dulwich, South Australia, and their FGI liaison is Graham Fairhead, Managing Director, who can be reached at gfairhead@fabtech.com.au. Please help us welcome Fabtech to the FGI!!!!

The Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) grew out of the PVC Geomembrane Institute (PGI), which was an industry-based research center based in Michigan that focused on the appropriate use of PVC geomembranes in containment applications. In 1998, the PGI sought proposals from various universities to establish a technical collaboration and liaison to increase research and technology transfer related to PVC geomembranes. In 1998, the PGI accepted Dr. Timothy D. Stark’s proposal to collaborate with the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). From 1998 to 2009 the PGI operated from the UIUC and conducted various short courses, developed and promulgated material specifications for PVC geomembranes, and conducted research on geomembrane durability, minimum plasticizer molecular weight needed for long-term durability, constructing and monitoring a long-term field test section in Hibbing, Minnesota, and various other topics related to PVC geomembranes.

In 2009, Dr. Stark proposed to broaden the PGI to include other flexible geomembranes that could be factory-fabricated into large panels, transported to a project site, and quickly installed. This expanded the PGI to include other geomembrane polymers, such as, flexible polypropylene, Linear Low Density Polyethylene (LLDPE), Ethylene Propylene Diene Monomer (EPDM),Chlorosulphonated Polythylene (CSPE), Ethylene Interpolymer Alloy (EIA),Ethylene Vinyl Alcohol (EVOH), and others. After about four years of discussion from 2009 to 2013, the Fabricated Geomembrane Institute (FGI) was founded in Illinois and based at the UIUC. In 2013 Dr. Stark and the first FGI President(Andrew Mills) launched the FGI with an innovative dues structure. The initial operating budget was estimated and it was proposed that the more members that joined the FGI, the lower the annual dues would be. This resulted in a large number of companies joining the FGI and a simple dues annual structure of$2,000 per manufacturer and fabricator/installer members, which is still in operation today.

The FGI focuses on the research of flexible geomembrane or geosynthetic materials that can be prefabricated in a controlled factory environment resulting in more constant, uniform, and predictable completed seams than in the field and less installation damage because of the shorter installation time.

The FGI now offers monthly webinars, short courses, and podcasts all over the world and supervises research on fabricated flexible geosynthetic materials using graduate and undergraduate students from the UIUC. The FGI website provides various resources, including, calculators to estimate pond leakage with and without geomembrane wrinkles, cost comparison between factory and field seam fabrication, panel weights for shipping, anchor trench design, and others, flexible geomembrane installation and attachment details for typical ponds, geomembrane testing videos, an online PDH program, geo-engineering quizzes, a geomembrane product and equipment guide, field and factory safety messages, and more! We hope you will participate in some of these activities and eventually consider joining the FGI. For more information, please visit fabricatedgeomembrane.com.

The Geo-Institute (G-I) of the ASCE provides the Cross-USA Lecture Tour to local G-I chapters and Graduate Student Organizations as an ongoing program to enhance the prestige of the Geoprofession and local events. The Cross-USA G-I Lecturer is a nominated distinguished geoprofessional that has to visit at least five different U.S. locations during the tour. Dr.Stark provided the host groups with a choice of thirty lecture topics and each group selected the topic to be presented at their location.

Timothy D. Stark, Ph.D.,P.E., a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with an expertise in geotechnical and geosynthetics engineering, was selected by the G-I Local Involvement Committee to be the 2022–2023 Cross-USA lecturer. Dr. Stark says all geoprofessionals are invited and encouraged to attend the meetings because the lectures are geared toward practicing geotechnical engineers and include recommendations for best practices as well as some lessons learned from major projects. He has been involved in a number of projects on these topics, which has facilitated the transfer of his research results to practice.

Dr. Stark says one of the highpoints of the tour for him has been “traveling to many G-I chapters and meeting hundreds of practitioners, students, academicians, contractors and other geoprofessionals. A couple of interesting developments during the Cross-USA Tour include attracting 138 geoprofessionals to the first in-person meeting of the Louisiana G-I chapter and serving as the keynote speaker for a number of regional conferences.”

The Cross-USA Lecture Tour started on September 19, 2022, and continued through early November 2023. The 23 tour stops included Blacksburg, Va.; Hershey, Pittsburgh and Valley Forge, PA.; San Diego, Calif.; Seattle, Wash.; metropolitan New York, N.Y.; Atlanta, Ga.; Ames, Iowa; Jackson, Miss.; New Orleans and Baton Rouge, LA.; Columbus, OH; Tampa, FL, Smithfield, VA, Louisville, KY, and three G-I virtual presentations that are available on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAw_li-bQfAWRso-1OwNebw.

During the tour, Dr. Stark discussed case histories such as: fill placement on a slope, toe excavation and deep bedrock landslide, 3D analysis of the Yeager Airport reinforced soil slope failure, and 2014 Oso, Washington Landslide: failure mechanism and runout analysis. He also covered technical topics that include 3D slope stability analyses, design geosynthetic interface strengths for landfill stability, drained soil shear strengths for static slope stability analyses, behavior of textured geomembrane/nonwoven geotextile interfaces, importance of design peer review, drilled shaft integrity testing, a new flow failure assessment procedure for dams and embankments, and the effect of liquids on geosynthetic interface strength and landfill slope stability. Some of these topics will be coming to the FGI Webinar Series in the near future.