Wegmans eliminating plastic bags at all North Carolina stores as of July 1
Wegmans will be removing single-use plastic bags from all North Carolina stores and the remaining Virginia stores in July.
Starting Friday, July 1, the plastic grocery bags will no longer be available in all four North Carolina stores or in its six remaining Virginia stores – Leesburg, Dulles, Potomac, Lake Manassas, Virginia Beach, and Charlottesville.
Wegmans announced in April that the company would be eliminating single-use plastic grocery bags throughout the entire company by the end of the year.
Paper grocery bags will continue to be available for a 5-cent charge per bag. According to a statement from the company, "Wegmans’ goal is to shift customers to reusable bags, the best option to solve the environmental challenge of single-use grocery bags. The amount 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, Virginia, as well as other markets. 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 press release indicates.
The "phased approach" to eliminating the plastic bags will continue at its remaining 27 stores in Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts through the rest of 2022.
In addition, Wegmans plans to reduce in-store plastic packaging made from fossil fuels, along with other single-use plastics, by 10 million pounds by 2024.
About Wegmans
Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a 107-store supermarket chain with stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, and North Carolina. The family company, recognized as an industry leader and innovator, celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2016. Wegmans has been named one of the ‘100 Best Companies to Work For’ by FORTUNE magazine for 25 consecutive years, ranking #3 in 2022. The company also ranked #1 on PEOPLE’s 2021 ‘Companies That Care’ list.
