Terragon Environmental Technologies is a Montreal-based clean technology company that developed the Micro Auto Gasification System (MAGSTM). MAGS generates energy fueled by waste – plastics, paper, food, used oils and wood – that is converted into inert carbon products. The thermal energy it produces can be used to heat water or HVAC units. Although the equipment is currently used in such settings as cruise ships, overseas resorts, and by the military, Terragon aspires for MAGS to be more widely used, expanding their market to cities for use by businesses and households, starting with Canada.

On the road to achieving this, they faced regulatory barriers. Despite its level of emissions being similar to those of a boiler, regulators look at MAGS as an incinerator because it processes waste. This means that it is subject to stricter requirements, needing to conform to standards and testing for large-scale and environmentally degrading products and facilities which end up costing more than the MAGS product itself.

Terragon needed to show regulators that MAGS is a safe energy appliance and believed a standardization solution with stringent safety and emission requirements might help. SCC identified the simplest and speediest way to get over this hurdle by facilitating the development of an Other Recognized Document (ORD). Certification to this document will allow the company to demonstrate the product’s safety and relevance as a clean technology and to hopefully break into Canadian land-based markets.