Last Friday, our team had the pleasure of visiting NZ Panels Group at their state-of-the art facility in East Tamaki for a behind-the-scenes tour. NZ Panels Group currently have 11 products certified with Eco Choice, under their brands Prime Panels, Bestwood, Dezignatek, and Kopine.
Group Marketing & Sustainability Manager, Desiree Keown, walked us through how their veneer, melamine and thermoformed door products are made, and gave us a first-hand tutorial of how they track their native veneer panels through the Track My Tree system.
Track My Tree is an initiative created by NZ Panels Group that provides a documented chain of custody from where a native tree has been harvested, right through to when the finished veneer panels leave their production site in East Tamaki. This includes making visible the valid MPI permit for harvesting and GPS location information.
As our standards for Furniture, Fittings and Floorings (EC-32) have evolved to raise the bar on environmental and social criteria, NZ Panels Group has embraced ongoing improvements across their operations.
Over the past year alone, they have achieved major wins:
✅ Energy Efficiency
Significant reductions in energy use across all sites (up to 48%) with smarter processes, local sourcing, and efficiency upgrades leading the way.
✅ Waste Reduction
They continue to reuse offcuts and recycle vinyl, plus have reduced packaging waste by nearly 50%.
✅ Sustainable Sourcing
All wood-based products come from verifiable FSC suppliers, with local, responsibly managed forests supplying native veneer.
✅ Social Responsibility
All employees earn above minimum wage, with 84% above the Living Wage and their suppliers are held to international human rights standards.
On noting the 15 year anniversary of having Eco Choice, Desiree commented how important it had been for the business in securing specification for their product ranges.
“Having our products certified by Eco Choice makes us an easy choice for architects and designers working on Homestar or Greenstar projects – without it we just wouldn’t be considered.”
👏 A huge congratulations to NZ Panels Group for a decade and a half of continuous improvement. Here’s to many more years of moving the industry forward.
