Fighting the War on Trash

Wednesday, November 16 2011

In partnership with the Office of Naval Research, Marines at Camp Smith, Hawaii are testing a trash disposal system called the Micro Auto Gasification System (MAGS) that can reduce a standard 50-gallon bag of waste to a half-pint jar of ash.

The unit is currently being evaluated by U.S. Marine Corps Forces, Pacific (MARFORPAC) as a possible solution to help Marines defeat the increasing trash at remote forward operating bases (FOB).

“Right now, there are really only two solutions: burn it or bury it,” said Lt. Col. Mike Jernigan, a Marine combat engineer. “Any potential solution must reduce the security and logistics concerns of trash disposal, and help the environment...that’s a good thing for the Marine Corps.”

MAGS has a controlled decomposition process which thermally converts energy from biomass. “The system essentially bakes the trash and recovers a high portion of combustible gas byproduct, which is used to fuel the process,” said Donn Murakami, the MARFORPAC science adviser who leads the Marine Corps’ evaluation team.

Watch a video about MAGS below.