Waste Management has acquired a majority equity interest in Cleveland-based Garick LLC, a manufacturer of organic lawn and garden products such as Black Satin mulch, Organic Valley soil and Moo-Nure compost. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

In a Waste Management press release, the company says the acquisition “will accelerate the expansion of Waste Management’s organics recycling services and [the] development of value-added organic products.”

“We want to extract the highest value possible from the materials we manage,” added Tim Cesarek, managing director of Organic Growth at Waste Management, in the press release. “Recycling organics through composting and other technologies that may produce energy, transportation fuels or specialty chemicals enables us to generate more value from this specific material stream.”

• Read "Green Acres" from Waste Age's August issue for an examination of how some counties in rural Oregon are working to increase the diversion of organics from landfills.