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October and November 2022 turned out to be memorable months as I had the chance to experience our final IFAI Expo in Charlotte, N.C., and my first—but our final—Lobby Day in Washington, D.C. You’ll find more about Lobby Day in the Update section and GMA column.
As of next year our annual association event will be known as the Advanced Textiles Expo. The 2022 expo was a great opportunity to not only visit with several companies from the geosynthetics world but to also introduce speakers, attend some great education sessions and hear the keynote speech and ATA industry update.
IFAI Expo and Sun Shading Expo North America together delivered more than 4,200 attendees access to the industry’s leading companies, live product demonstrations on the show floor, the latest innovations in technology and textiles and valuable education and insight on current trends.
Attendees browsed a combined show floor of 314 exhibiting companies displaying their latest products and equipment. There were more than 20 campfire education sessions broken out by advanced textiles, specialty fabrics, and shade and weather protection markets.
The 2022 International Achievement Awards (IAA) winners were announced at the expo. The geosynthetic projects category is for projects that use geosynthetic materials in civil engineering applications. The top winner was Propex receiving the Award of Excellence and Best in Category—Geosynthetic Miscellaneous for Des Moines Riverbank Stabilization; fabric names: ARMORMAX and SCOURLOK; fabric producer: Propex Geosynthetics.
Propex GeoSolutions received the Outstanding Achievement Award for Muscle Shoals Solar Field; fabric names: ARMORMAX and PYRAMAT; fabric producer: Propex Geosynthetics.
In the area of Mines/Landfills/Wastewater, Solmax received the Award of Excellence for Biogas Cover Waste2Energy; fabric name: HDPE Smooth Black; fabric producer: Solmax International Inc.
TenCate received the Outstanding Achievement Award for Lake McConaughy Geotextile Tube Shoreline Erosion Protection; fabric name: TC1200MB Tri Composite Geotextile; fabric producer: TenCate Geosynthetics.
The geosynthetics world gathers once again Feb. 5–8, 2023, in Kansas City, Mo., for the co-located Geosynthetics Conference/International Erosion Control Association (IECA) Annual Conference 2023. This conference brings civil engineers, contractors, regulators, designers, installers and geotechnical practitioners together under one roof on our show floor. The last time we co-located together more than 3,000 participants attended. The Geosynthetics Conference has become a world-class gathering over the years for ideas, innovation and conversations about geosynthetics featuring numerous speakers, plenary lectures and much more. I hope to see you in Kansas City!