ABSTRACT
Over the past 40 years, the advantages of utilising geosynthetic barriers versus traditional earthen barrier materials have been well documented: greater project economy, extended service lives, enhanced environmental protection, greater site safety, etc. Achievements such as conserving water resources and enabling beneficial site reuse have even given geosynthetic engineering a level of social importance. As such, the use of geosynthetic barriers has increasingly been required by government regulators around the world. This is true in modern waste management landfill design. However, there are still regions and applications in which the use of these barrier technologies should be more widely adopted. This paper highlights an overview of applications where geosynthetic barriers are used, and where regulation or recommendations are available, and it describes other emerging applications where geosynthetic barriers are starting to be used.
