Cavanagh said establishing a route would not happen straight away but there were ideas to look into.
Delegates were “blown away” by the Queensland city’s waste management centre - a purpose-built site covering 20 hectares, she said.
“Their sole intention is just keeping everything out of landfill,” she said.
“When you drive in, you can drop off your green waste, your mattress, your refrigerator.
“Pretty much anything you can think of, they have a section for it, including a barrel for dead animals”.
A report from Cavanagh said 6000 mattresses were broken into parts and recycled each year at the Toowoomba facility, with thousands of tonnes of green waste chipped and re-used in parks and open spaces every week.
Ninety per cent of Toowoomba’s waste treatment plant was powered by methane gas captured at its adjacent landfill site.
There were opportunities for Whanganui to establish its own landfill site instead of outsourcing, align it with city’s wastewater treatment plant and collaborate with neighbouring councils on waste, the report said.
General waste from Whanganui residents is currently transported to the Bonny Glen landfill near Turakina.
The June trip was the first council visit to Toowoomba since 2015 and marked the 42nd anniversary of the sister-city relationship.
Long-serving Toowoomba mayor Paul Antonio, who has since retired, visited Whanganui in March last year.
Whanganui Mayor Andrew Tripe and councillor Glenda Brown were part of the delegation, with the pair’s trip costing ratepayers around $5000.
Tripe said getting people and products in and out of the Whanganui was currently “quite clunky”.
“We manage it and get through it but if we think about what world-class looks like, we are well away from that.”
The delegation also visited the Kogan Creek Power Station, which generates enough electricity to power one million homes.
“We saw coal being burned cleanly, a hydrogen plant and solar all in one proximity,” Tripe said.
“It is extraordinary where they are at in regard to energy transition and energy supply.
“We are so far behind in New Zealand.”
Cavanagh said a Toowoomba Regional Council delegation of five would be in Whanganui for the opening of the Sarjeant Gallery in November - a direct result of the recent Whanganui trip.
“When you have a sister-city relationship, you do need to invest in it,” Cavanagh said.
“It’s about making things happen for mutual benefit but also about information sharing.”
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
