Greenstar, the waste management subsidiary of NTR, has spent €20 million acquiring two regional waste companies. It has also opened a new €25 million automated materials recycling plant in Dublin.

The company has acquired Ormonde Waste, based in the southeast, and Cork company Hannon Recycling.

The acquisitions are Greenstar's first since it secured €200 million in debt financing last February. Ormonde Waste, which has recycling facilities in Kilkenny, Wexford and Waterford, handles almost 80,000 tonnes of waste a year.

Hannon Recycling, which provides recycling services in Cork city and county, handles around 14,500 tonnes of dry mixed recyclables each year.

"These are a good geographic fit and gets us into geography we were peripherally serving," said Greenstar chief executive Steven Cowman. "But it also gets us sites and infrastructure. We are getting two very strong companies, with strong assets and management teams."

The combined turnover of the two companies is around €17 million and the acquisitions will help boost Greenstar's turnover to €130 million - €140 million for 2006, according to Mr Cowman.

Greenstar posted revenues of €95 million last year and holds around 10-12 per cent of the market in the Republic, following the acquisitions.

The waste market in the Republic is worth €1.2 billion - €1.5 billion and is still very fragmented, with more than 400 operators despite consolidation in recent years, according to Mr Cowman.

Legislation and EU directives have driven the growth in the waste management and recycling markets, he said. "Ireland is looking at major EU fines if we don't meet landfill directive diversion targets by 2010," said Mr Cowman.

Greenstar plans to grow revenues to €250 million and market share to 20 per cent through acquisitions and organic growth in the next few years. Mr Cowman said that the coming years would be characterised by increased consolidation. "This business is about scale and requires a high level of capital investment," he said. "It requires a lot of tonnage, deep pockets and technology to do it."

Since it was set up in 1999, Greenstar has invested €240 million in infrastructure and acquisitions. The company has made 11 acquisitions in that time.

Yesterday, it also opened a €25 million automated materials recycling facility in Ballycoolin in north county Dublin, which the company said is the largest of its type in the country.

Licensed to accept 220,000 tonnes of commercial, industrial, construction and demolition waste a year, the new Millennium Park facility could handle more than a third of the commercial waste produced in Dublin and recycle between 70-80 per cent of that.

The facility has a capacity to manage 400,000 tonnes of waste and is expected to remain in operation for more than 20 years.

Greenstar is applying for permission to build a similar facility in Bray, Co Wicklow to serve south Dublin.