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Wegmans to eliminate plastic shopping bags chainwide this year

Nearly 60% of regional grocer’s stores have removed single-use plastic bags

Russell Redman

April 18, 2022

3 Min Read
Wegmans checkout-shopping bags.png
Currently, Wegmans has phased out disposable plastic grocery bags at 61 of its 106 stores, with nine New Jersey stores slated to do so early next month.Wegmans

Wegmans Food Markets plans to phase out single-use plastic bags companywide by the end of 2022.

With the move, Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans said it aims to shift all customers to reusable shopping bags, which it described as “the best option to solve the environmental challenge of single-use grocery bags.” Currently, the supermarket chain has eliminated the plastic bags in 61 of its 106 stores, including all New York locations plus selected stores in Virginia, Massachusetts and Maryland.

Wegmans added that it’s slated to transition out of single-use plastic and paper bags at all nine of its New Jersey stores on May 4, in line with the state’s bag ban.

“We understand shoppers are accustomed to receiving plastic bags at checkout and losing that option requires a significant change. We are here to help our customers with this transition as we focus on doing what’s right for the environment,” Jason Wadsworth, category merchant for packaging, energy and sustainability at Wegmans, said in a statement. “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.”

Wegmans noted that it will take a phased approach to removing single-use plastic bags at its remaining 45 stores throughout the second half of 2022 to accommodate the supply of paper and reusable bags. The chain said all new stores will open with paper bags as the only single-use bag option.

Related:Wegmans to eliminate single-use plastic bags at more Virginia stores

To spur the use of reusable shopping bags, Wegmans will charge five cents per paper bag, an approach that the company said worked New York and other markets. In stores where the company has already stopping using plastic bags, paper bags are used for 20% to 25% of transactions on average, with the remaining 75% to 80% of transactions using reusable bags or no bag at all.

The elimination of plastic bags from the remaining Wegmans stores and shift to reusable bags will prevent about 345,000,000 single-use bags from going into circulation over the course of a year, the regional grocer said. The amount collected from the bag charge will be donated to each store’s local food bank and United Way. In 2021, Wegmans collected and donated more than $1.7 million from the bag fee.

Wegmans has taken a proactive approach as retailers nationwide eschew single-use shopping bags. In 2019, the grocery chain — ahead of an impending plastic bag ban in  New York state — piloted the removal of plastic bags at its stores in Ithaca and Corning, N.Y., as well as in Richmond, Va., stores. Wegmans said the New York pilot was designed to gauge impact of eliminating plastic bags, ease the transition for shoppers and associates, and encourage customers to adopt reusable bags, whereas the Richmond pilot focused on helping customers make the switch when legislation wasn’t the driving factor. In New York, Wegmans ended up eliminating plastic bags at all of its New York stores in January 2020, before the state’s ban took effect that March.

Related:Wegmans shifts to eco-friendly egg cartons

The phaseout of plastic shopping bags is part of Wegmans’ effort scale back the use of single-use plastics. The company said it aims to reduce its in-store plastic packaging made from fossil fuels, along with other single-use plastics, by 10 million pounds by 2024. Overall, Wegmans operates stores in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, and North Carolina.

About the Author

Russell Redman

Senior Editor
Supermarket News

Russell Redman has served as senior editor at Supermarket News since April 2018, his second tour with the publication. In his current role, he handles daily news coverage for the SN website and contributes news and features for the print magazine, as well as participates in special projects, podcasts and webinars and attends industry events. Russ joined SN from Racher Press Inc.’s Chain Drug Review and Mass Market Retailers magazines, where he served as desk/online editor for more than nine years, covering the food/drug/mass retail sector. 

Russell Redman’s more than 30 years of experience in journalism span a range of editorial manager, editor, reporter/writer and digital roles at a variety of publications and websites covering a breadth of industries, including retailing, pharmacy/health care, IT, digital home, financial technology, financial services, real estate/commercial property, pro audio/video and film. He started his career in 1989 as a local news reporter and editor, covering community news and politics in Long Island, N.Y. His background also includes an earlier stint at Supermarket News as center store editor and then financial editor in the mid-1990s. Russ holds a B.A. in journalism (minor in political science) from Hofstra University, where he also earned a certificate in digital/social media marketing in November 2016.

Russell Redman’s experience:

Supermarket News - Informa
Senior Editor 
April 2018 - present

Chain Drug Review/Mass Market Retailers - Racher Press
Desk/Online Editor 
Sept. 2008 - March 2018

CRN magazine - CMP Media
Managing Editor
May 2000 - June 2007

Bank Systems & Technology - Miller Freeman
Executive Editor/Managing Editor
Dec. 1996 - May 2000

Supermarket News - Fairchild Publications
Financial Editor/Associate Editor
April 1995 - Dec. 1996 

Shopping Centers Today Magazine - ICSC 
Desk Editor/Assistant Editor
Dec. 1992 - April 1995

Testa Communications
Assistant Editor/Contributing Editor (Music & Sound Retailer, Post, Producer, Sound & Communications and DJ Times magazines)
Jan. 1991 - Dec. 1992 

American Banker/Bond Buyer
Copy Editor
Oct. 1990 - Jan. 1991 

This Week newspaper - Chanry Communications
Reporter/Editor
May 1989 - July 1990

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