If you shop at Wegmans stores in Virginia, don’t expect to have your groceries bagged in plastic.
Starting July 1, the grocery store chain will stop offering plastic bags at Virginia stores that still have them, the company announced Monday.
“Wegmans’ goal is to shift customers to reusable bags, the best option to solve the environmental challenge of single-use grocery bags,” the company’s statement said.
The change will apply to stores in Charlottesville, Dulles, Lake Manassas, Leesburg, Potomac and Virginia Beach, plus four stores in North Carolina.
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Shoppers can buy paper bags for 5 cents each or bring reusable bags. Stores will donate the paper bag charges to local food banks, Wegmans said.
In stores where plastic bags are no longer offered, paper bags are used for 20 to 25% of transactions on average, with reusable bags or no bags used for about 75 to 80% of transactions.
Plastic bags will be eliminated from Wegmans stores in Maryland soon, the company said.
