"We are talking about getting together and seeing what we could do to work together.
"Things are booming in terms of construction work. What do you do with what's left over? That's a big cost of the whole thing, and I think people genuinely want to do the right thing."
About 14 per cent of Whanganui's waste is from construction and demolition, Hylton estimates. It ends up in landfill or cleanfill sites, is reused or disposed of illegally.
McManaway bought nearly 3ha of land in Brunswick Rd in early 2020 for his JDM Earthmoving business, which now employs six.
To get full use of it he spent "tens of thousands" removing the tyres stored there.
He has a machine that crushes concrete, brick and tiles, turning them into aggregate that can be used on building sites and forestry roads.
It has been working for six months, employing two people, and demand for it has grown.
McManaway decided to split the recycling side of his business off. It also includes a machine that chops green waste into a saleable mulch.
No product will be disposed of on the site, he said, and he will not accept plastic or general rubbish.
He aims to eventually recycle timber and gib board as well.
The business is set to open formally on October 16 and be open to the public six days a week after that. It will save building waste being "dumped on paddocks", he said.
"This is a bit of good that we can do for Whanganui. I think it's pretty positive."
Recycling of material was a key part of the demolition of cement silos at Whanganui Port this year. The silos were owned by Q-West Boat Builders which paid for the demolition, as part of its $11 million investment in the marine precinct part of the port renewal project.
It was carried out by Jurgens Demolition with material repurposed to be used for site stabilisation works and road-base around the marine precinct.
Apart from a very small amount of timber and some cladding that contains asbestos, everything else is to be recycled or repurposed at the port. Only about 5 per cent of the demolition material will need to be disposed of to landfill.
Legal disposal is a cost - costs to dispose at landfills are increasing and opportunities to dispose illegally are reducing. There will come a point when those costs make recycling businesses viable.
Organisations like the non-profit Whanganui Resource Recovery Trust could get involved, Hylton said.
Disposal of construction waste to land is permitted by Horizons Regional Council, as long as the quantities are limited, the slope is not steep, the site is not sensitive and will remain stable, and records are kept.
There are an unknown number of such sites in the district, a council spokeswoman said.
There are also 11 consented and registered cleanfill sites. Four are owned by Whanganui District Council and four by Waka Kotahi NZ Transport Agency, used in road maintenance and construction.
Downer also has two, and one cleanfill site is owned by Auckland company Barker & Associates Ltd.
