LANCASTER, Pa. — Attention, shoppers: Wegmans is removing single-use plastic bags from all of its Pennsylvania stores later this month.
Beginning Thursday, Sept. 22, single-use plastic bags will be eliminated at all of Wegmans' 18 Pennsylvania locations, the company said in a press release.
In Central PA, Wegmans has locations in Mechanicsburg and Lancaster.
The move marks the completion of the company’s journey to eliminate single-use plastic grocery bags companywide by the end of the year, Wegmans said.
“Completing our transition out of single-use plastic bags across the company is a big celebration as we continue to expand our sustainability efforts and focus on doing what’s right for the environment,” said Jason Wadsworth, Wegmans category merchant for packaging, energy, and sustainability. “We started on this journey in 2019 when we set out to eliminate plastic bags in our New York State stores ahead of the state plastic bag ban.
"A lot has happened over the last three years, but that early success in New York showed us the impact we could make and drove us to continue on our journey to be plastic bag free by the end of 2022.”
While paper grocery bags will continue to be available for a 5-cent charge per bag, Wegmans’ goal is to shift customers to reusable bags, which is considers to be "the best option to solve the environmental challenge of single-use grocery bags," the company said.
The amount collected from the paper-bag charge will be donated to each store’s local United Way, Wegmans added.
Incentivizing the use of reusable bags by charging five cents per paper bag is an approach that has proven successful in the company’s other markets, Wegmans said.
In stores where Wegmans 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 company said.
Wegmans’ elimination of single-use plastic bags is coupled with its commitment to reduce single-use plastics. Wegmans has committed to reducing its in-store plastic packaging made from fossil fuels, along with other single-use plastics, by 10 million pounds by 2024.
