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Q1. What is Greenfirst?

Greenfirst is the name of The Laminex Group's range of environmentally preferable products. Many products have been certified by Environmental Choice New Zealand, and some products are certified by Good Environmental Choice Australia (GECA).

It is New Zealand's first surface and wood panel range to support the Green Star rating tools.

It will help make "green" buildings commercially viable and easier to build.
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Q2. What is Green Star New Zealand?

Green Star New Zealand is the environmental rating system developed by the New Zealand Green Building Council.

The tool helps the property industry to reduce the environmental impacts of buildings, improve occupant health and productivity, achieve real costs savings and show innovation in sustainable building practices.
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Q3. Who is the New Zealand Green Building Council?

The New Zealand Green Building Council is a national, not-for-profit, property industry initiative.

Its' mission is to drive the transition of the New Zealand property industry towards sustainability by promoting green building programs, technologies, design practices and operations.
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Q4. What is The Laminex Group's relationship with the New Zealand Green Building Council?

The Laminex Group is a member and active supporter of the New Zealand Green Building Council.
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Q5. Why is the Green Star environmental rating system being used instead of other rating systems?

Green Star New Zealand has been adopted by the industry as an effective environmental rating tool to help designers achieve a sustainable building solution, following the success of the tool in Australia.

It's also the only rating system in New Zealand that evaluates the environmental impact of New Zealand buildings at all phases of development and across all environmental categories.
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Q6. How does the Green Star New Zealand environmental rating system work?

The Green Star tools assess a project's environmental performance against nine environmental impact categories.

Points are awarded for actions (design solutions, materials specified etc) that demonstrate a project has met the overall objectives of Green Star New Zealand and the specific aims of the relevant rating tools to improve environmental performance.
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Q7. What are the Greenfirst products, and how can the Greenfirst range help the building industry to achieve the highest possible Green Star credit rating?

The Greenfirst product range is extensive and includes:

• Composite wood panels

  • Raw substrates including MDF (E1 and E0)

• Decorative laminates

  • Laminex, Fusion and Formica High Pressure Laminates
  • Laminex Low Pressure Laminates
  • Melteca Low Pressure Laminates
  • Trade Essentials® Whiteboard Low Pressure Laminates

All of the products in the Greenfirst range meet some key environmental impact categories of the Green Star rating system for buildings. These include:

• Indoor Environment Quality

  • IEQ 14 - formaldehyde minimisation

• Materials

  • Mat 8 - sustainable timber

Key attributes include materials with high eco-preferred content and durability, lower product emissions for better indoor air quality.

The Laminex Group has Green Star New Zealand Accredited Professionals who will help specifiers, architects, designers, commercial joiners and furniture manufacturers to achieve the highest possible Green Star credit rating.
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Q8. Are all of The Laminex Group's products Greenfirst?

A selection of The Laminex Group's products are included in the Greenfirst range. See Q7 for a list of products.

More and more products will be added to the Greenfirst range, which will expand and grow over time to meet new Green Star New Zealand rating tools and market demand.
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Q9. What is Environmental Choice New Zealand certification?

The Environmental Choice ecolabel is awarded by an independent, not-for-profit research and certification organisation called Environmental Choice New Zealand (ECNZ). Where the Environmental Choice label is displayed, it acknowledges the product as meeting or exceeding the voluntary environmental declaration standards. The Standard is a comprehensive, life-cycle based assessment, which is scientifically and internationally recognised. For further information, visit www.enviro-choice.org.nz.
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Q10. What are the applicable standards for formaldehyde emission levels?

The table below indicates the Australia / New Zealand (AS/NZS) Standards for formaldehyde emission levels.

Standards		Formaldehyde
		AS/NZS	ppm
NOHSC Workplace safe			1.0
E1 Standard	- Particleboard	≤1.5	<0.1
	- MDF	≤1.0	<0.1
E0 Standard	- Particleboard	≤0.5	<0.1
	- MDF	≤0.5	<0.1

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Q11. What is FSC?

FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council and it is an international organisation that promotes the responsible management of the world's forests. See www.fsc.org for further information.
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Q12. Does The Laminex Group have FSC certified products?

Lakepine MDF raw and decorated panels satisfy the Environmental Choice NZ criteria for 30% FSC content in the raw substrate.
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Q13. Where are the Manufacturing Plants of The Laminex Group?

Raw board decorating plants are located at: Kumeu (Particleboard) Taupo (Particleboard) Mataura (MDF) Back to Questions

Decorating facilities are located at: Hamilton (LPL) Papakura (HPL)