September 09, 2022
Wegmans will eliminate single-use plastic bags at all of the chain's 18 locations in Pennsylvania later this month, the supermarket company announced Thursday.
The ban will go into effect on Thursday, Sept. 22 and completes Wegmans' goal of completely eliminating plastic bags by the end of the year, the company said. Customers will be able to purchase brown paper bags for five cents each, which will be donated to the nonprofit United Way.
"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," Jason Wadsworth, Wegmans' category merchant for packaging, energy, and sustainability, said.
Wegmans hopes the move away from plastic bags encourages customers to invest in reusable ones. The company prohibited plastic bags at its New York stores before a ban in 2020 and has phased them out in New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and Massachusetts.
The ban on single-use plastic bags will impact seven stores across the Philadelphia region, including Montgomery, Delaware, Chester and Bucks counties:
• Warrington (1405 N. Main St.)
• Dowington (1056 E. Lancaster Ave.)
• Malvern (50 Foundry Way)
• Concordville (100 Applied Bank Blvd.)
• Collegiville (600 Commerce Drive)
• King of Prussia (1 Village Drive)
• Montgomeryville (500 Montgomery Mall)
Wegmans announced its goal of eliminating plastic bags by 2022 companywide earlier this year. The initiative aims to eliminate 10 million pounds of single-use plastics by 2024.
Philadelphia banned all stores and restaurants from using single-use plastic bags on April 1. The city used an average of one billion disposable bags annually, which many saw as one of the largest contributing factors to the city's trash problem.
Bucks County, where one Wegmans store operates, does not have specific ordinances prohibiting using single-use plastic bags. However, resolutions have been passed encouraging people to opt for reusable bags. Chester County, which has two Wegmans, does not have autonomy over plastic bag regulation, but multiple towns within the county have decided to enact bans of their own.
Delaware County also allows specific towns to establish laws regulating the use of plastic bags. Media Borough became the latest suburb to ban the bags in July. Haverford had previously begun a ban. Though Montgomery County does not have any laws banning plastic bags, it began charging 10 cents to customers who wanted to use them. Across Pennsylvania, 11 municipalities have official bans on plastic bags.
The United States uses 100 billion plastic bags annually, which requires 12 million barrels of oil to produce. In 2015, a study found that over 87% of plastic products in the country were not recycled, eventually winding up in landfills and oceans.
Wegmans, which opened as a family market in 1916 in Rochester, New York, has 108 stores across New York, Maryland, Massachusetts, Virginia, Washington DC, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania.
