How many of you remember a mid-1990’s Honda television commercial in which the shopper had to make the decision on whether to choose a paper bag or a plastic bag for his grocery purchase?
Immediately, as everything else comes to a screeching halt, it is implied his brain is processing this decision and weighing the pros and cons of each, while under peer pressure to just get it done. For those of you who may not have seen this commercial, I have provided it here for your enjoyment. I also want to state that I am in no means trying to promote one product over another, such as the Honda car or paper or plastic.
I was privileged to attend and present a paper at the Geosynthetics Mining Solutions inaugural show in Vancouver last week. It was great to catch up with old friends and form new friendships with industry colleagues, many of whom I am looking forward to working with and seeing again at upcoming events. The line-up of speakers was fabulous, and I tip my hat to InfoMine who did a great job putting together and hosting the conference. The conference provided a great opportunity to learn about new materials, new and unique applications for existing materials, design considerations, and many lessons learned over the course of approximately 30 years of geosynthetics applications from the landfill industry. To say the least, the conference was thought provoking.
One of the thoughts that I took away from the conference was how much focus is placed on the design of containment facilities, from the design concept itself which may have to address numerous challenges, to the selection of materials to be used in the construction which will meet the design requirements. The design options and types of materials are numerous, so the designer has to carefully piece together a puzzle that will meet the facility’s operating requirements (in addition to conforming to any regulations). When all of these choices are carefully implemented in the design, the culmination should be a fully functional and properly operating system upon completion of construction.
But does a design, no matter how great it is, succeed solely on it’s own? The quick and obvious answer is “No”; it takes a team implementing the design criteria through construction in order for it to succeed. In containment facilities, this means the selection of competent and qualified professionals—earthwork contractors, surveyors, geosynthetics installers, and construction quality assurance personnel. In many instances, it seems like the selection of these key roles is almost an afterthought to the design and material criteria. After all, there are a hoard of firms out there that each specialize in one or more of the roles I mentioned, so picking one should not be too difficult, right? Are all firms pretty much equal and just separated by their cost? Absolutely not. While thoroughly vetting all of the service firms is sure to make your head spin, it definitely can make the difference on whether or not the project is a success and the selection process should demand as much focus as the design itself. So, I ask you again: “Will that be paper or plastic?”
