10 Reasons To Choose Global Environmental Solutions for your Soil Stabilizing Project

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1. Our products are environmentally safe – developed for the earth, with the earth in mind.

2. We’ve been working within the soil stabilization industry for 20 years now (originally started as DirtGlue Enterprises – which is still the forefront namesake of our line of terrain management products).

3. We listen. GES is not going to provide you with a cookie-cutter, out-of-the-box solution. We’re going to hear what your issue at hand is.

4. We believe in science (and use it as a tool). Following the “listening” portion above, we take the education you’ve granted us from your pain and customize the right product driven by scientific research and modernized technology utilization. The idea is to come up with an application that solves any variable that might exist and pose a challenge to the fruitful culmination and inherent solution of your project.

5. We like to play in the dirt. With experience, comes experience. And with that experience and understanding, we can make better informed decisions on how to manage the “dirt” we’re working with…

6. Consider our DirtGlue® line of products if you have a need in any of these areas:

  • Permanent dust control
  • Embankment stabilization
  • Sub-grade stabilization
  • “Green” paving using industrial polymer as a bonding agent
  • All soil stabilizing requirements
  • Erosion control
  • Stockpile capping
  • And really any terrain management/control

    • solution you may be on the hunt for…

7. We have sales and service locations worldwide, so, we’re global, and readily available for you whenever, and wherever you need it!

8. We are a veteran owned business.

9. Our goal and operative mission has been – since day one – to provide the best possible results in an industry where ‘good’ just isn’t good enough. We strive for technical and ecological superiority; every product, every project, all the time.

10. We solve problems related to soil management – and we enjoy it.

Road Base Stabilization and Drainage Management

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Roads. They’re a part of our everyday lives. Getting us from Point A to Point B and everywhere in-between. That said, not all roads are created equal… Today, we’d like to talk about the proper construction of a roadway and how best to manage the stabilization and drainage properties of a road as an inherent piece of the initial puzzle…

Roads are directly affected by the base plot of land they’re built on. They’re also affected by direct environmental factors such as nearby runoff and drainage factors. Therefore, and it’s likely obvious, the way you construct and maintain the terrain that immediately abuts any piece of a road is imperative. You can’t just flatten the surface and pour the asphalt. Sure, that’s the very thought a lot of us have when we think about a road but, there’s far more to it – at least if you’re being smart about it… The soil should be made from aggregate of the proper gradation and it should be derived from crushed rock.

Road Building vs. Paving

Let’s start at the beginning. As mentioned, the main issue at hand is that most people simply look at the pavement and think “ROAD,” because that’s what shows. That’s “what’s on the surface.” With this attitude the end result is that they end up relying too much on – the pavement – without considering the other more important aspects that should go into any paving project. A road is not pavement. A road is a system of which the pavement is the top layer (much like the roof on a house is the top of a complete system of foundation, frame, walls, roof, etc. that make up the whole). See where we’re at with our thinking here?

In order to provide a pavement (which is what GES has created with our Polymer Pavement System), with good functionality along with a good lifespan, we need first to ensure a good base and good drainage, thus not relying on the pavement for strength but rather for consolidation of the surface aggregate such that there is no mud in the wet season and no dust in the dry season…

If the surface to be paved requires better load bearing, this can be accomplished using geosynthetics. The side benefit of the geosynthetics is better drainage as well. Have questions about geosynthetics? Call us. We have a warehouse full of answers.

When it comes to road building versus simply paving, it’s possible to have 2 – 3 inches of pavement (polymer, asphalt or concrete), which will support nearly any load if the base and subgrade are stable and well drained. It’s not feasible to rely on 4 inches or more to support any load if the base and or subgrade are poorly stabilized or poorly drained.

With Global Environmental Solutions, you’re taking a giant leap towards constructing roadways that are created with a correct, proactive approach the first time. We proved products that serve roads that are built to last.

And again, remember, a road is more than just a surface you drive on, and said strip of pavement is potentially compromised by any surrounding ecological variable. Look around. Is there a parcel of land running downward towards the roadway? If yes, that’s direct route for runoff and erosion to occur – eating away at your road and creating potentially disastrous driving conditions.

Products for consideration:

  • DirtGlue Polymer®
  • TerraDry®
  • DustLess®
  • DirtGlueDry®
  • PotHoleGlue™
  • DGE Polymer Pavement System™

Contact GES today. We’ll help you design, plan, and construct the best road you can build, at a cost you can appreciate. Not only are you saving upfront, but on the backend as well. Forward thinking is the most sensible thinking. And thinking ahead leads to the road best travelled. (Or is it, best road travelled? See what we did there?…)

Observations from the Worksite: The Rise of DGCool™, the Industry’s First Cold Climate Polymer Solution

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Conversation with D&T Landscaping & Irrigation President Dave Olson

D&T Landscaping & Irrigation have been serving their community in Minnesota since 1980.  That’s 40 years of service with a continued value proposition to improve and foster top tiered solutions for all their customers’ unique needs.

One such customer/vertical they’ve long served exists in the mining industry. A reoccurring challenge D&T has been faced with is in utilizing a dust suppressant solution that keeps potential environmentally harmful fugitive dust particles onsite rather than floating around in the air. The challenge is further heightened by the fact that the different experiences Minnesota is faced with from naturally occurring seasonal shifts had compromised past remedial attempts. D&T utilized an assortment of polymer based products as a potential solution (as opposed to their typical mode of attack – hay) from several different companies over the years. Finally, three years ago they came in to contact with Global Environmental Solutions who have worked closely with D&T owner/president, Dave Olson, to create an exact solution to their working problem(s). This relationship led to GES developing their latest product offering, DGCool™.

Keep reading to learn more about the challenge, the approach, the solution, and the overall experience with GES and DGCool™:

How’d you learn about Global Environmental Solutions and their DirtGlue® line of products?

Dave Olson: Well, what we do is we provide dust suppression services for the steel and tackamine mines over here in Minnesota. We’ve historically used hay to suppress the dust permeating from the mines. The Challenge with that is these conditions. These tailings basins that we work in are wet. Getting a piece of equipment down there is extremely challenging so we started exploring using polymers as a potential way to hold the dust down until we could get other equipment out there to cover it up.

We tried probably six different products to accomplish this from five different companies and GES or DirtGlue® was the only company that was willing to reformulate their product to best serve our unique conditions. Up to that point we had no products, no polymer based products that were holding the dust down on our tailings basin.

DGCool™ came out of that effort to kind of redesign the product to hold in colder temperatures. When we’re transitioning from fall into winter and then again from winter to spring, we go through a frost / freeze process where the tailings freeze generally at night, warm up, moisture draws out and then we’re kind of okay for the day. But once it starts to freeze, it’s a really fine product, the moisture evaporates and any wind that picks up from below wipes it out. That’s an issue because in these mines, the dust is considered fugitive dust, which is not ideal. Obviously, our goal is to keep that dust in place.

How long have you been working with GES?

Olson: We had tried a bunch of polymers from a number of companies because by-and-large the marketing shtick is everyone claims to have the solution you/we need. When we solicited the help of GES three years ago we started by using two of their products, DirtGlue® and DustLess®. A lot of polymers act similarly, but there are certain elements to each that are proprietary, which is why we tried two different products and the products of other vendors. We wanted to see what would work best for our challenges.

Two years ago we tried a large 100-acre deployment of GES’s DirtGlue® product and it did not withstand the frost / freeze process. It would freeze and peel off and didn’t solve the problem. So I went back to Chris (Rider) and explained what was happening – what we were hoping for – and that’s when he started reformulating the recipe based off of tailings samples we sent at his request. This was the beginning of what would become their DGCool™ solution.

How did GES work with you to outfit you with the best possible solution for your unique challenge? What can you say about the working relationship between all involved?

Olson: What I like about Chris and GES is he’s continually taking a proactive approach and even still asks for tailings samples so the company can work to improve upon what we’ve put to action. They don’t simply rest on what they’ve delivered and move on – they stay actively engaged and strive to maintain advanced improvement.

They were the only company that came back and asked how it went. “How did it go? What were your application rates?” Of all the other companies, they’re the only one that called back. We’re not in this for a one-time sale, we’re looking to solve a problem, so that gets me enthused about the working relationship…

You worked with GES to help facilitate a working test example of the effectiveness of their new DGCool™ product. Tell us about the application. What can you say about the product? How did it help you accomplish what you were looking to achieve?

Olson: It held until we got snow, which is good. Once we get snow there is no dust problem until spring (for obvious reasons). So we’ll know exactly what we’re dealing with when the snow melts and water starts to runoff as it does in spring. If the product is still there, we’ve done it.

We have the product at two sites, a 100-acre site and a 5-acre one. They both held until we got the snow on the ground, which is encouraging. It’s definitely much better than what it was. Prior to this year we tried a different deployment method which was application via helicopter. The first year we used a bucket with large spray nozzles. The helicopter company came up with a different solution – it wasn’t a spray nozzle but more of a rotating spin, gravity feed out, which was a much better solution. So the combination of the product and the delivery method is how we’ve gotten to where we are this year.

Would you recommend GES and their products to people in your industry?

Olson: Yes and no (laughs). Yes because they offer exemplary service and work with the customer to tweak their product to match exactly what the customer needs. This can’t be understated. I jokingly say “no” because in our case I feel like we’re on the cusp of a pretty proprietary solution and application set that separates what we’re doing in the market. But I think as far as what we know as of right now, absolutely I would. GES has been a real pleasure to work with, and the relationship continues to develop as we both look to improve upon what we’ve accomplished thus far, which is exciting for all parties involved.

Between Rose and Chris I can’t say enough good things about the GES team. I’ve felt like from the start they’ve been engaged with me to help me solve a problem. Since the inception we’ve been working closely to help solve the challenge at hand and we’ve collectively kept peeling the onion. For instance, when we started we had a problem with our pump system at the application stage. Come to find out, the polymer heats up to a pretty high temperature and the seals of the deployment pump would fail. I called Chris to ask him what he thought was happening and he was like, ‘if you’re not immediately trying to pump that through the pump prior to it heating up, yeah, it’s going to wreck the seals.’ So we solved the problem by finding a high-temperature chemical seal, which he was engaged with at the outset. I can’t even begin to tell you how many emails he sent me with resources full of information to look into when it came to finding an appropriate seal.

As we’ve gone through evaluating the product, they’ve been there. They want to help us find the perfect solution. I have no doubt that if we come out of spring and the product has deteriorated or is non-existent, Chris is going to be right there and spend more time trying to figure out where we go to move forward and solve it. That’s the kind of guy he is…

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Are you faced with a terrain based challenge you’re not sure how to best tackle? Contact the friendly folks here at GES. We’ll hear you out, and lead you down the best path to successful resolution. We’re with you every step of the way…

GES: For the Earth, with the Earth in Mind.

Gas and Oil Exploration

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Gas and Oil Exploration

An industry that never rests in this great country of ours is the oil and gas exploration industry – which, in short, is the unearthing of fossil fuels which generate the energy needed to fuel myriad applications in everyone’s daily routines.

That said, there’s a lot of moving pieces and parts when it comes to this type of “exploration” and the ensuing extraction of these resources. Many such oil and gas exploration sites are abundant in challenging terrain and environmental variables that could pose distraction and ecosystem maladies if not tackled appropriately. That’s where Global Environmental Solutions comes in. Our suite of products has been confidently utilized for decades, offering the appropriate solutions needed to make sure the potential environmental issues created by the work being done onsite at oil and gas exploration facilities stays onsite.

Environmental issues to consider and act upon that come in to play when we start looking at oil and gas exportation sites:

  • Air quality
  • Land sustainably
  • Fresh water
  • Soil being disturbed at sites
  • Use of toxic chemicals
  • Hazardous wastes
  • Solid wastes and sewage
  • Radioactive wastes
  • Dust and/or sediment from stockpiles at sites
  • Dust from traffic at sites or access roads

There are numerous ways that any of the above can be compromised due to the nature of the work being done:

  • Surveying
  • Blasting
  • Drilling
  • Extraction
  • Associated incoming and outgoing site traffic

So how do we proactively combat these situations and make certain that the sites of oil and gas exploration remain safe for human and environmental life?

Let’s dive into some of the varied uses companies contract GES products for.

Oil & Gas Exploration companies have utilized us for::

To round it up, the Oil and Gas Exploration industry, is subject to myriad that adversely affect the environment if not treated appropriately and proactively combatted correctly. We at GES have been involved in many customized site treatment solutions over the years. If you need help or have questions, we have the answers and the products to keep your worksite safe, your workers safe, and the surrounding ecosystem safe – from the terrain, air, and water (seen and unseen). Let’s work through it together to fuel collaborative success.

GES: For the earth with the earth in mind.

Safe? Striking out dust on the ball field

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Safe? Striking out dust on the ball field

We’re in the thick of baseball season. Parents are spending all their “free” weekend time at the ballfield, or carting their kids and their friends off to the next ballfield. It’s one of the traditions Americans have come to love as spring turns to summer and the sun shines down upon the diamond in all its glory.

While you’re sitting there in the stands cheering your excitable player on, have you ever wondered why they’re outfitted for a facemask to protect them from the ball but not a facemask (respirator) that protects them dust that gets kicked up with every fleeting step?

That may seem like a joke, but be assured, we’re not joking at all…

Fact is, the soil on the ballfield and the dust it emits can be likened to the dust that floats around on a construction site. Guess what they’re wearing? Yep. Masks.

“What?!”

It’s true.

That dust little Bobby is breathing into his lungs after sliding into second base is full of crystalline silica. And while Bobby stole the base safely, that kicked up dust is unsafe and sneakily stealing Bobby’s health one microbe at a time.

What is Crystalline silica?

Crystalline silica is a basic component of soil, sand, granite, and many other minerals. Quartz is the most common form of crystalline silica. Crystalline silica has been classified as a human lung carcinogen. Additionally, breathing crystalline silica dust can cause silicosis, which in severe cases can be disabling, or even fatal. The respirable silica dust enters the lungs and causes the formation of scar tissue, thus reducing the lungs’ ability to take in oxygen.

Further: Pm2.5 and pm10 sized crystalline silica particles lodge deep into lung tissue and stay embedded in your lungs for your entire life… Those numbers may not mean anything to you. In short, they’re quite smaller than the diameter of a human hair. Basically microscopic. When kicked up on the field, these particles can remain airborne for a solid 24-hours.

 

Don’t just take our word for it.

This is a studied matter. In fact, major organizations that have confirmed the warning of hazardous crystalline silica dangers include:

 

  • Centers for Disease Control (CDC)
  • World Health Organization (WHO)
  • American Lung Association (ALA)
  • Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

 

So, if it’s known, why isn’t being addressed?

In short. Change is hard. It takes an investment – of money, and time. That said, isn’t your child’s health reason enough to ask the organization your affiliated with some questions? It’s not an easy subject. By-and-large, dust is ignored and “just there.” That said, remember in the 60s and 70s when you could smoke on a plane? Or up until even more recently, in a restaurant? Remember when asbestos and lead paint were used in ALL the houses constructed across the country at that time?

 

Here’s the skinny:

The dust and health deterring particles your young player inhales can be easily prevented. In fact, it’s 100% preventable.

A common way some groundcrews keep dust at bay is by watering the soil of the diamond (STRIKE one). The problem is, watering only lasts so long before the sun dries it out – oftentimes before a game culminates, thus knocking us right back to square one (STRIKE two). The flipside of that coin is that, if you use too much water, you’re bound to start creating mud, which will inevitably lead to tracking, clumping, caking, and other issues that can spread throughout the ballpark (STRIKE three).

Enter Global Environmental Solutions. We’ve spent a great deal of time creating better, smarter, and safer ballfields for our kids, friends, and families across the nation. How do we do it? That would come in the form of our Dustless® product, which we rolled out back in 2002. Dustless® is a long lasting non-toxic, non-hazardous liquid that absorbs into particles and prevents them from becoming airborne. Sun does not dry it out and rain cannot wash it from the dirt. The only reason Dustless® needs to be re­applied is if it is covered over with new material or buried deep by due to the tilling of the terrain. The lifespan of Dustless® can last as long as several seasons with a single application depending on environmental variables (of which, we be quite happy to discuss).

 

What have we learned?

Dust is not just dust. As it applies to the baseball diamond, dust is a real health hazard that is preventable if we choose to recognize it for what it really is. It’s not up to the players to control it, it’s up to the towns, leagues, parents, coaches and umpires to protect the players and ensure the fields are free from hazards before, during, and after play. It’s not hard to get control, and it’s even easier to keep control once you’ve established it. Baseball and all it represents is supposed to be fun. It’s “America’s favorite pastime.” Let’s keep on enjoying its rich tradition, and expand upon the safety of our baseball facilities. Together we can create lasting memories while bringing safer facilities to fruition. We can achieve this. All it takes is a single swing and we can knock it out of the park. Give GES a shout today, and take us out to the ballgame. We’ll root for the home team and quickly get to the root of dusty field conditions…