Waste Management Inc. further bolstered its recycling position with the purchase of Greenstar LLC from NTR PLC for an undisclosed amount.

The Houston-based Waste Management said in a news release that its subsidiary, WM Recycle America L.L.C., bought one of the United States' largest private recycling firms, which managed about 1.5 million tons of recycled material for more than 12,000 customers through 12 material recovery facilities, including seven single-stream plants, and a brokerage business for recovered material.

Greenstar is also based in Houston, and the Irish firm NTR is headquartered in Dublin.

“Acquiring Greenstar advances our growth and transformation strategy to extract more value from the material that we manage,” said William Caesar, president of Waste Management Recycle America and Organic Growth. “We have a stated goal of managing 20 million tons of recyclable material by 2020. With these assets, we have the capacity to achieve almost three quarters of that goal and extend our ability to provide the recycling services that customers want.”

The company said Greenstar’s MRFs will complement Waste Management’s existing recycling assets and increase earnings.

Operations at Greenstar will continue as normal while Waste Management integrates the operation, the company said.