Paper bag maker, Eco Pack, opens in Fairfield while focused on sustainability

Eco Pack, a flat-bottom paper bag manufacturer, opened its Fairfield facility at 258 Donald Drive, and nearly everything used is recyclable. Yash Kunduru and her husband, Sam Bandinani, founded the businesses after Bandinani operated businesses in the region for 20 years.

The team is driven by a passion for creating eco-friendly products catering to diverse industries. Kunduru pitched the eco-friendly business idea to her husband, who helped her get it from concept to reality.

Eco Pack is also an opportunity to continue to be an inspiration to Kunduru’s daughter, she said, which was another reason she wanted to open the business.

Bandinani said they are using mostly recyclable materials. He and Kunduru said they are working with their ink supplier, BCM Inks in Blue Ash, to have recyclable ink. Right now, it’s a water-based ink.

“We’re trying to get into only the recyclable products,” Bandinani said. “We don’t want to do anything that’s harming the environment.”

Eco Pack is also recycling, in a way, the building at 258 Donald Drive, which used to house a location for Panelmatic Cincinnati, an electrical control panel manufacturer.

The business has 10 employees and doesn’t have plans to grow the workforce at this time, said plant manager Jeremy Nagele. Crews work three 10-hour shifts four days a week. He said they will eventually go back to three eight-hour shifts five days a week. Later this year, they plan to run six days a week, he said.

Amazon and Whole Foods are their two customers, and the company will run tens of millions of bags a year for them. They’ll add another customer in eight to 12 months. Within five years, they hope to have five customers.

Eco Pack works with Amazon’s Supplier Diversity team, which works with various types of businesses, including minority-owned and women-owned businesses. Isaac Subias, a senior program manager on the Amazon Supplier Diversity Team, said they have programs specifically designed to ensure the businesses they work with and support can grow in scale.

“It’s really important for us to continue to foster and show up for our businesses,” he said while at Thursday’s ribbon cutting with members of his team. “The people that are working with us, we want to continue to help them as much as we can.”

Fairfield also works to support the diversity of small businesses in the community, said Mayor Mitch Rhodus, adding that small businesses are the backbone of the city’s economy.

“We need businesses filled with employees,” he said, “so thank you for locating here in Fairfield because it’s our goal to be the most business-friendly city in the state of Ohio.”