The city of Commerce City and Nanning, China, may be thousands of miles apart but they are finding they have much more in common than they both think.
“We have the same goal,” said Nanning Mayor Huang Fangfang through interpreter Huang Ying.
Since Commerce City and Nanning both have strong industrial bases in their cities, the two cities both have a goal of being environmentally friendly.
“What we have found out through being a sister city is that no matter where you are, you want the same things – you want your kids to do better than you are, you want to be safe where you are and you want to leave the earth better than you found it,” said Commerce City Mayor Paul Natale.
Through this sister city partnership, the two cities hope to gain insight on how to better their communities not only in protecting the environment, but in the fields of industry, agriculture, science and technology, education and tourism.
“You have your advantages and we also have our advantages so we can complement each other,” Fangfang said.
While in Commerce City the Chinese delegation of Mayor Fangfang and five of his department heads toured Waste Management’s eCycling facilities in northeast Denver.
“What this company does is very meaningful,” Fangfang said. “It’s a cause for environmental protection and it contributes to human lives.”
Fangfang said Nanning has similar plants that recycle around 1,400 tons of waste daily from its 2.5 million population.
“It’s very similar to what our companies do; however, our capability of processing is much bigger,” Fangfang said. “However we realize that the level of processing the waste is more advanced than Nanning. We would be more labored to finish this same job as you do here.”
Fangfang hopes to introduce some of the technology he saw at the Waste Management plant sometime in the future.
“This is an example of what we think relationship and possibilities for cooperation can be,” Fangfang said.
Waste Management welcomes the delegation’s visit.
“It promotes the partnerships that we’re always looking for,” said Chad Miller, senior project manager for Waste Management’s eCycling center. “You can tap into each others’ history. Anything that we can learn from the past – best practices, knowledge transfer – I think it’s always a good thing to do.”
Mayor Natale agrees.
“Commerce City and Denver is advancing into green technology. Nanning is using green technology so it seems like a perfect match,” Natale said.
With Governor Bill Ritter making Colorado into a green state, Natale said, this relationship is just a starting point to what can happen throughout the state.
“Commerce City had the ability to start the relationship but this relationship will build through the whole state not just in Commerce City,” Natale said. “This will be a regional relationship.”
During their brief visit, Natale and Fangfang discussed how to expand their partnership and get their counterparts in both countries to seek similar agreements.
One way is to host the first China/U.S. Mayor’s Conference in Denver during the National League of Cities’ (NLC) Congress of Cities & Exposition in November.
Natale, who sits on the executive committee of the Metro Mayors Caucus and is also on the NLC’s International Committee, said this is the perfect time to hold the conference since mayors from around the entire United States will be in attendance.
“It’s the relationships at our level, where you’re actually on the ground getting things done, that seem to work better,” Natale said. “It’s much easier at our level to say these are things we can get done because there’s not as much red tape (as on the federal level).”
June Younger can be reached at jyounger@metronorthnews.com