Wegmans to Remove Plastic Bags at Remaining Virginia Stores, All North Carolina Stores

Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans announced that it will remove single-use plastic grocery bags from its six remaining Virginia stores—in Leesburg, Dulles, Potomac, Lake Manassas, Virginia Beach and Charlottesville—and all four North Carolina stores beginning July 1.

The move is part of Wegmans' effort companywide to eliminate single-use plastic grocery bags by the end of this year.

While paper grocery bags will continue to be available for a 5-cent charge per bag, Wegmans said its goal is to transition customers to reusable bags, which it said is “the best option to solve the environmental challenge of single-use grocery bags.” Wegmans said money collected from the paper-bag charge will be donated to each store’s local food bank.

Incentivizing the use of reusable bags by charging five cents per paper bag is an approach that has proven successful in Richmond and Fairfax County, Va., as well as other markets, Wegmans said.

In stores where the company has already eliminated plastic bags, on average, paper bags are used for 20%-25% of transactions, while the remaining 75%-80% use reusable bags, or no bag at all, the grocer said.

Throughout the remainder of the year, Wegmans said it will continue its phased approach to eliminate single-use plastic bags at its remaining 27 stores in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts. At the time of each rollout, Wegmans will work to ensure consistency in its approach across all markets, unless legislation dictates otherwise.

Named to Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For list, Wegmans said it is also committed to reducing single-use plastics beyond plastic bags. The grocer has pledged to reduce its in-store plastic packaging made from fossil fuels, along with other single-use plastics, by 10 million pounds by 2024.