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The grocery giant announced that it will eliminate the use of plastic bags companywide by the end of 2022 as it seeks to shift customers to reusable bags, which they said is "the best option to solve the environmental challenge of single-use grocery bags.”
Moving forward, Wegmans locations will be charging five cents per paper bag, mirroring measures that have already been put in place in New York and other major markets.
Officials said that in areas that have eliminated plastic bags, approximately a quarter of customers use paper bags, while the rest either turn to reusable bags or no bag at all.
By eliminating plastic bags, Wegmans estimates that it will prevent approximately 345 million single-use bags from going into circulation in a year’s time.
The amount collected from the paper-bag charge will be donated to each store’s local food bank and United Way.
“We understand shoppers are accustomed to receiving plastic bags at checkout and losing that option requires a significant change,” Jason Wadsworth, Wegmans category merchant for packaging, energy, and sustainability, said. “We are here to help our customers with this transition as we focus on doing what’s right for the environment.
“As we’ve encountered plastic bag legislation in numerous markets, we’ve learned there’s more we can do, and a bigger impact we can make, together with our customers.”
According to the United Nations Environment Programme, single-use plastic bags are one of the top five single-use plastics found in the environment by magnitude, and they are one of the top five items encountered in coastline clean-ups.
Between 500 billion and one trillion plastic bags are consumed worldwide each year, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Less than 1 percent of plastic bags are recycled in the United States and they are not acceptable at certain recycling centers.
The EPA estimates that 80 percent of plastic pollution in the ocean originated on land, which includes plastic bags, and in the metro-New York, residents use 23 billion plastic bags annually, which contributes to pollution both on and off land. These bags do not biodegrade and they persist for years.
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