Fortunately most world governments support the work that we do.

I know that the South African government are very supportive to protect our water supplies and the Department of Water Affairs is extremely active with Kelvin Legge.   Kelvin was recently awarded the Smart Award from the South African Institute of Civil Engineers, playing a critical role following on the  footsteps of his father William who gave me encouragement when I first started in the lining business in the mid 1960's and in turn Kelvin's grandfather before him.   Our Geoafrica Conference chairman Peter Legg (no relation to Kelvin) is very committed to the industry as you can see from this conference that he organised. Thank you Peter.

My story is very intertwined with the development of the high density polyethylene lining industry in South Africa and the world.

In 1964, I opened Gundle Plastics producing 6 foot wide low density polythene sheeting for the packaging industry. 

I sold some to farmers who I found had leaking dams, so by 1966, we had lined the first dam using low density polythene with glue and tape as a joining method, not very satisfactory but served a purpose.  The sheeting was too thin and too narrow.  I toured the world to find a solution.  Major machine manufacturers in Germany, United States and England were not interested in my crazy idea to make thick wide plastic sheeting for the dam lining industry.

 Ultimately I found a manufacturer in Italy who was prepared to build my crazy machine idea on condition I paid him in advance as we progressed and we installed three extruders into one circular die head.

This was a first in the world at the time and it was installed in the new Johannesburg factory in 1967 manufacturing up to 500 micron thick and 12 metres wide.   It worked and the polythene lining industry in South Africa was born using this newly developed technology.

The factory (below left) by 1984, 20 years later, a very recognisable landmark on the Johannesburg airport highway, specialised in high density dam lining materials but also manufacturing a wide variety of technical products for packaging, greenhouses and other agricultural and construction applications.

The early challenges of joining the material were ably solved by my late friend and colleague, Allan Lever. Allan who was with me for 25 years before retirement, helped me develop other joining systems and was also the first recipient of the GIGSA Honorary Life Membership. 

The most successful joining system at the time was the "Strip Seal System" developed by Allan Lever, which if you can imagine the 500 micron low density polythene would be folded and pressed into a moulded 'C' shaped plastic pipe into which a round smaller pipe would be forced fit to secure the plastic.  This contraption which was totally waterproof would be buried in a trench approximately a foot deep and covered in, to secure the sheeting.  This system in fact worked very well for some years but was time consuming and wasted plastic.

However even thicker more durable sheeting was needed for industrial applications. By this time Fred Struve had joined me and he did modifications to the machinery including freezing internal bubble mandrills which were considered remarkable at that time.

Also Fred developed a rotating extruder screw tip hand held welder that could weld our new high density 2mm sheeting together very securely.   Fred received the Geosynthetic Institute's Award of Excellence at the March 2008 conference in Mexico presented to him by Robert Koerner.

It was this thick, high density sheeting technology and rotating tip extrusion weld and very long lasting formulas developed in our laboratory by Dr. Rod Tinkler that gave us the opportunity to expand our market into a variety of industrial, commercial, chemical and mining applications and landfill linings - including sophisticated, hazardous waste storage facilities monitored by the South African Water Affairs Department under the critical eye of Kelvin Legge and his team. 

Until this time, the most durable lining product known was Nylon Reinforced Butyl rubber imported by ourselves for jobs such as the Onverwacht reservoir and the Usuto Power Station in 1967 and 1969 respectively.  These sheets were site-joined with glue that cured and Butyl tape for added security.  These installations lasted for some 25 years before we relined them with 2mm Hi-Driline.  Butyl products were encouraged to start a branch in South Africa in 1972 the managing director being  Paul Barker, which we acquired in 1980 and integrated it into the Gundle Dam Lining division.

By this time we were well established with two of the giant, three extruder into one dye, machines supplying materials and installations to a big assortment of industries, many under the auspices of the Water Affairs Department for mining, agriculture, power stations, chemical plants etc. etc. throughout South Africa and many countries in Africa as well. 

Going back now to the mid 70's, I recognised the opportunity that our technology offered to expand worldwide and, by 1977, we installed our first lining for a Uranium plant in Tulsa, Washington State, USA and I recognised the opportunity to build a factory in America.

At that time America was mainly using PVC for lining water containment reservoirs, dams and irrigation canals etc.   For very large applications, reinforced Hypalon was the preferred material.   PVC needed high frequency factory welding to join the narrow sheets and on-site joining used solvent glues and were of poor quality and also flexible plasticised PVC became brittle and degraded within a few years.  

We saw this as our opportunity to export our newly, South African developed technology and know-how into the USA and developed further the American lining industry. 

Fred Struve and his wife May Rose headed to America to facilitate the building and management of our factory in Houston, Texas which produced its first sheet 7 metres wide and up to 2500 micron thick when it opened in 1982. Here we see Fred at the opening of the factory standing on the right, and on the far left, Paul Barker who together with his wife Diana had also headed for Houston to build up the sales organisation.  Paul is with us here today.  Fred and Paul did a super job supported by their wives May Rose and Diane.  The slide opposite illustrates from left: Paul & Diana Barker, Sooozee & Clifford Gundle, Rich & Claudette Schmeidt, May Rose & Fred Struve.

The early years were difficult because PVC, Butyl and Hypalon were so well entrenched and backed by the giants with deep pockets. 

Gradually, it was recognised that our high density polyethylene sheets were stronger, more durable, more weather resistant, more puncture resistant and with the newly developed wedge welder with our rotating tip extrusion welding system and our very long lasting high density formulas, within only a few years high density became the standard.  Competitors saw the opportunity to enter the market as well which further helped the establishment of high density as the norm. 

By this time my American friend Howard Koenig, a plastics engineer also joined me as a partner and further substantially enhanced the business going forward.  Many thanks Howard.

Fortunately, I had also been accepted as a committee member on the Standards Committee of the National Sanitation Foundation in Ann Arbor, Mitchigan and we were able to set high standards for testing and quality control that safeguarded the industry.

Gundle Environmental Systems continued to expand and take market share and export to many countries of the world.  It went public on the New York Stock Exchange in 1986.

Today, after many management and corporate changes using the name GSE they have 7 factories throughout the world with a very dominant share of the world high density sheeting market and GSE are also anchor sponsors of this conference.



GERMANY | UNITED KINDOM | UNITED STATES OF AMERICA | CHILE | CANADA | EGYPT |THAILAND

Reverting back to South Africa.

Many of the philosophies employed by the regulatory standards for waste containment in South Africa were developed by Jarrod Ball during the 1980s. Jarrod held an Aquatan bursary for post graduate research at the University of the Witwatersrand.  These standards came into effect in September 1994. 
 

In 1986 I sold Gundle Plastics Johannesburg Manufacturing Division and concentrated on the dam lining division which we renamed Aquatan.

Aquatan is managed by our present day managing director Piet Meyer.  Piet  has been leading Aquatan very successfully for the past 28 years with lots of home support from his wife Maryna and together with his directors - Mike Wittmann, Rod Drayton and Noel Fitzgibbon, is now doing installation lining jobs in many countries in Africa and as far afield as Guyana in South America and Vietnam. Aquatan is one of the largest lining contractors in the world today and an anchor sponsor of this conference.  Thank you Piet, Mike, Rod and Noel.

Below left: Piet Meyer, Mike Wittmann, Rod Drayton, Cliff Gundle (Noel Fitzgibbon is not in this photo).

Looking back to determine the key points of our success has been to take bold steps and innovate.  As Charles Darwin coined the phrase "the species that have the ability to adapt survive", this is what we have done and the industry throughout the world has done as well.  Laboratory development for better formulations has always been a priority.  Quality has always been more important to Aquatan than price.  Yes we have lost customers because of price but never ever have we lost a customer because of quality.  We have been in the lining business for some 45 years and I have every confidence that Piet Meyer and his team will continue to innovate and improve quality and opportunities to enhance the industry for us all to fulfil our goals of protecting our scarce water supplies for future generations.

I would mention that Paul Barker, Fred Struve and Rod Tinkler are still involved with the Geosynthetics lining industry.   I must thank my colleagues for all their help over the years.

In particular I must thank  my wife Sooozee photographed here with three young children,  43 years ago in 1966, Kimberley (4), Kevin (2), Brian (a few months)  and Brigitte was still a twinkle in our eye but now she is 40, diligently supporting my early endeavours.

Sooozee, who is with us here today, and I have been married for 50 years and she needed to bring up our four children virtually single handed while I spent my time travelling the globe building the business in America and internationally to innovate and stay ahead of the game.  Thank you Sooozee.

My whole family has always remained close to the business and here I am seen giving an Aquatan presentation earlier this year to our family now comprising 21 members - 4 children, their spouses and 13 grandchildren.

Over the years additional products were required to enhance lining methods some of which I am sure you will hear about during this conference. For example, the GCL clay liners manufactured by CETCO who are also an anchor sponsor to this conference.

Various Leak detection systems have been developed to find leaks in case of need, one of which by Dr. Ian Peggs of I-Corp. Ian is also at this conference.  Ian mentioned an idea to develop photovoltaic nano particles to be incorporated in the outer layer of a multi layer sheet which can produce electricity from the suns rays.

To prevent evaporation and retain the purity of stored water Aquatan has installed hundreds of floating covers which themselves can collect valuable water during rainy seasons while preventing evaporation and retaining purity of the stored water.

Each of you are making a major contribution to the survival of the species or you would not be here today. 

I thank you for your valuable contribution and I know that this conference will add to the education of us all.

The following morning, much to my surprise and delight, I was awarded a certificate for meritorious service at a special award ceremony during the conference.  The certificate reads "Award for Meritorious Service to Clifford Gundle.  In appreciation of the extraordinary contribution to the development of Geosynthetics in South Africa, 2 September 2009" presented by the President of the South African Chapter of the International Society Mr Garth James.

Aquatan, over the years, has received numerous awards from GIGSA for its achievements.  We all in the Aquatan team can hold our heads high amongst the international community in relation to the recognition given to us by the International Geosynthetics Society.  Recent awards include:

CONSTRUCTION 2004
Presented to the project team of: Molatek Animal Feeds, Jarrod Ball and Associates and AQUATAN (PTY) LTD.
For: The Construction of the 14 800 cubic meter Floating Cover Molasses Reservoir at Malelane, Mpumalanga, South Africa

DEVELOPMENT IN TECHNOLOGY 2006
Presented to Kelvin R Legge and AQUATAN (PTY) LTD.
For: Development of a system that mitigates the negative effects of heat on geosynthetic materials in barrier systems.

CONSTRUCTION 2006
Presented to AQUATAN (PTY) LTD.
For: The Geomembrane Lining System to the Effluent Treatment Plant Mondi, RichardsBay, South Africa

CONSTRUCTION 2009
Presented to AQUATAN (PTY) LTD.
For: The construction of the Water Harvesting and Floating Cover Reservoir, Buzwagi Gold Mine, Democratic Republic of the Congo.


The Buzwagi Gold Mine Water Harvesting project consist of a 750 000 square meter (75 Hectare) Engineered Pad lined with 0.75mm thick HDPE, a Floating Cover Reservoir lined with a 1.5mm HDPE liner and a 1.14mm Reinforced Flexible Polypropylene Floating Cover, 400m long, 400m wide, 13m deep and 1 vertical to 3 horizontal slopes (16 Ha) and a connecting transfer canal lined with 1.5mm HDPE.

The water Harvesting Pad collects rainwater during the rainy season which is transferred for storage to the Floating Cover Reservoir through the TransferCanal. The water collected during the rainy season and stored in the Floating cover Reservoir supports the water demand of the mine during the dry season. The floating cover on the reservoir eliminates evaporation and keeps the water clean.