Medical and hazardous waste management firm Sharps Compliance Corp. has purchased collection company Alpha Bio/Med Services LLC for an undisclosed amount.

Houston-based Sharps also said it is launching a company-sponsored route-based pickup operation in Texas, serving the Texas cities of Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Austin, as well as Shreveport, La., according to a news release.

Alpha Bio/Med, based in Paradise, Pa., is a route-based pickup service. It has revenue of $30 million, according to the Houston Chronicle.

"Alpha Bio/Med Services is a very well run organization and a great fit for Sharps as it allows us to service the Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio areas with both a route-based pick-up service as well as our traditional line of Sharps Recovery System mail-back solutions,” said David Tusa, Sharps president and CEO. “With this acquisition we are exploring opportunities to build and permit a treatment facility in the Northeast to most efficiently service our strong and growing customer base in the region."

Sharps has enhanced its service offering to include both a subcontracted route-based pick-up and the Sharps Recovery System mail-back to maximize savings and efficiencies for customers. The new service it launched focuses on the professional, assisted living and long-term care markets and will expand Sharps’ service offering to medium-quantity markets, such as surgery centers.

Sharps Compliance has been active in growth through partnerships. Last July it partnered with Chicago-based Veolia Environmental Services North America Corp. (VESNA) to offer its lighting and battery ship-back recycling program. Sharps marketed the service to existing and prospective customers as a complement to its line of medical waste and unused medication management solutions.

In 2012 it partnered with another medical waste management firm, Chicago-based Daniels Sharpsmart Inc., on a joint marketing alliance. Daniels’ operates a system for sharps reuse to reduce medical waste. Sharps and Daniels offer Sharps' mail-back/ship-back solutions for small quantity generators of medical waste and used healthcare products. Daniels provides its route-based pickup services for larger-quantity generators of medical waste. The companies said customers can blend the services to include both of offerings.

In early 2013 Sharps agreed to repurchase up to $3 million of its common stock.