Wood: The MDF (Medium Density Fibreboard) process at Nelson Pine Industries Ltd (NPIL) uses up to 700,000 tonnes of wood per year, from the residue of logging from renewable pine plantation forests. LVL uses an additional 200,000 cu per year of wood resource. It requires a higher grade of log which is converted to an added value product.

Water: Every tonne of MDF made requires about one tonne of water, very low compared with other processes that use wood residues. In the last 10 years total water consumption has been reduced to a third of the original amount, while at the same time the amount of board made has trebled.

Energy: About 70% of the energy used on the site is generated by burning wood waste. The other 30% of the energy comes from electricity supplied via Network Tasman.

Resin: Two companies, Dynea and Orica supply resin to NPIL . Both have worked closely with NPIL to develop environmentally friendly resins. GoldenEdge MDF has emission levels similar to natural wood.

Water and waste: Nelson Pine Industries is part of a cluster of industrial users of the water and waste services provided by Nelson's two councils. By changing from hydraulic debarking to mechanical debarking and other water saving and re-use measures, NPIL has gone from using 7.5 m3 of water per m3 of board to 1.1 m3 of water per m3 of board.

Effluent, mainly from the chipwashing stage of production, is treated on site before being piped to the regional treatment plant.

Water used on site at NPIL to raise steam is treated to ensure it is as pure as possible. Steam is an important part of the MDF production process, used to cook the wood chips and refine them into wood pulp.