eureka organic bread switches to bread bags made of 36 sugarcanebased pe when introducing its products to the east coast market for marketing and sustainability benefits.by anne marie mohan, senior editor, packaging worldenlargein introducing its line of three organic bread varieties to east coast consumers, eureka organic bread rolled out new packaging as well that complements its brand messaging of &ldquobeing full of everything consumers want and less of what they don&rsquot,&rdquo says mike jensen, assistant brand manager at bimbo bakeries usa bbu, owner of the eureka brand. the new polyethylene bread bag is made from 36 biobased material, braskem&rsquos green pe, made from sugarcane.&ldquoconsumers react positively toward companies that use sustainable packaging,&rdquo says jensen. &ldquoso as consumers were discovering eureka for the first time, we thought it would be the perfect time for them to also discover this new packaging technology. braskem&rsquos green pe technology is in line with the wants and needs of the organic consumer.&rdquoeureka organic bread is baked with organic whole grains and highquality ingredients, and contains no artificial colors, preservatives, or highfructose corn syrup. packaging for the product displays the usda organic and certified vegan shields. first introduced in 2012 in 27oz packaging, the bread made its way from the west coast to the pacific northwest, and then to the east coast in september 2014 in the new packaging, sold in major grocery retailers.beyond the marketing advantages of the biobased bread bag, eureka&rsquos new packaging provides significant greenhouse gas reduction benefits according to a lifecycle analysis conducted by braskem, for each ton of green pe produced, approximately 2.15 tons of co2 equivalent are captured from the atmosphere. in addition, because green pe provides the same properties as fossil fuelbased pe, it can be seamlessly integrated into the bagmaking conversion process and is 100 recyclable.&ldquothere were very few drawbacks to switching to green pe, because biobased pe is identical to petrochemical pe in both mechanical and performance properties,&rdquo confirms jensen. &ldquothe only difference is that biobased pe comes from &lsquonew carbon&rsquo plant based versus &lsquoold carbon&rsquo petrochemical based.&rdquobbu settled on 36 biobased content as a place to start. &ldquoit&rsquos a balance to get the material to have the right quality,&rdquo says jensen. &ldquoat the 36 level, there is enough material in the bag to make an impact on its sustainability.&rdquowhile jensen admits that there are costs involved with adopting the new technology, he believes that as market opportunities and volumes grow, these costs will begin to decrease. eureka is the first bbu brand to employ green pe the company is closely monitoring the film&rsquos performance and consumer feedback before expanding it to other brands.companies in this articlesupplier»braskem 
