Waste Management going for 'black gold'

September 1, 2010 11:06 AM PDT

by Candace Lombardi

Garick ad for its Paygro Black Satin brand of all organic mulch.

(Credit: Garick)
The trash and recycling services company Waste Management is expanding into the organic gardening business, the company announced Wednesday.

The Houston-based company has acquired Garick, which manufactures things like mulch, garden compost, and playground turf made from recycled organic materials.

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. WM only went so far as to announce that Garick's composting facilities will be used to augment WM's existing organic recycling services, and offer a line of organic garden products made from WM-collected biomass waste.

The new line of products will include organic garden compost, which is often referred to by gardeners as black gold because the nutrient-rich material enhances plant growth when added to soil.

Garick currently has the capacity to compost more than 1 million tons of material per year, according to WM. So, where will the trash mega-giant get all this organic waste to make the gardening products?

The company plans to expand its food and organic waste removal service--also known as organics recycling.

WM said in a statement it believes many large food companies and retailers, in the interest of sustainability, would use an organics recycling service. The service would be akin to the way many companies opt for cardboard or plastics recycling collection as a way to improve their carbon footprint.

The deal helps WM work toward its goal of "doubling its renewable energy production, tripling the amount of recyclables processed by 2020, and investing in new technologies for managing waste."

The company hinted that expansion of organics recycling services could also serve as fodder for the company's biofuel aspirations.

"Recycling organics through composting and other technologies that may produce energy, fuel, or specialty chemicals enables us to generate more value from this specific material stream," Tim Cesarek, managing director of Organic Growth at Waste Management, said in a statement.

WM already has a trash-to-energy project that garners fuel from landfill gas. It's not a far leap to think WM may be planning plants similar to Enerkem's waste-to-ethanol plant in Canada, which uses compostable trash to make ethanol.

Candace Lombardi, a freelance journalist based in the Boston area, focuses on the evolution of green and otherwise cutting-edge technologies, from robots to cars to scientific innovation. She is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not a current employee of CNET. E-mail Candace.

Topics: Biomass, Deals and investments, Carbon, Waste and recycling
Tags: trash,recycling,Waste Management, compost, garbage,organics recycling, black gold

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Add a Comment (Log in or register) (4 Comments) prev next by MyRightEye September 1, 2010 11:27 AM PDT
HA! That's the very last source of compost that will ever set foot in my yard thanks. What you put on your garden, you eat a month or two later. I'll pass, thanks.
Like this Reply to this comment by mrorie September 1, 2010 11:55 AM PDT

...you know that a lot of fertilizer is basically cow ****, right? How is this going to be any worse?
Like this 1 person likes this comment
by hutwarmer September 1, 2010 12:42 PM PDT

Actually I think it is great that garbage companies are looking for ways to reduce the amount of garbage dumped in landfills, even if the motivation is profit rather than sustainabilty. I started composting about 2 years ago and it is amazing how much stuff we used to throw away which is now devoured by the compost pile in the back yard. And this is the first year i really used the compost in my vegetable garden and i can tell it made a huge difference.
Like this Reply to this comment 1 person likes this comment

by Joe Real September 1, 2010 2:21 PM PDT
In strict organic philosophy, this "black gold" is not strictly ORGANIC because the materials from which they came from are not produced from organic farming or manufacturing methods. Think about the toxic residues from the various chemicals used in the processing, the preservative chemicals, the pesticides, fungicides, insecticides used to get these farm products and now just the same they will be composted into black gold as organic matter. Not all organic matter are considered fit for strict organic farming and this is one of them.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11128_3-20015315-54.html?tag=mncol;posts#ixzz0yOgqbFW4