Wegmans will phase out single-use plastic grocery bags at the six stores in Virginia that are still using them and at all four of its North Carolina stores starting July 1.
The bags will be removed from stores in Leesburg, Dulles, Potomac, Lake Manassas, Virginia Beach and Charlottesville.
The grocery store chain will have paper bags available for a nickel each. The chain will donate the money collected from the paper-bag charge to each store’s local food bank.
Plastic bags have already been eliminated at stores in Fairfax County and Richmond.
Wegmans said where plastic bags have been eliminated, paper bags are used for 20% to 25% of transactions. Roughly 75% to 80% of transactions use reusable bags, or no bag at all.
The 107-store chain said it will phase out single-use plastic bags at its remaining 27 stores in Maryland, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.
By 2024, Wegmans wants to reduce its in-store plastic packaging made from fossil fuels, along with other single-use plastics, by 10 million pounds.