Wegmans Food Markets plans to eliminate the usage of disposable plastic bags in stores across northern Virginia.
The grocery store plans to roll out a 5-cent fee on plastic bags, according to WTOP. Customers will be offered paper grocery bags at a price of 5 cents each instead.
“By eliminating plastic bags and adding a charge for each paper bag, our hope is to incentivize the adoption of reusable bags, an approach that has proven successful for us in New York State and Richmond,” said Jason Wadsworth, a packaging, energy, and sustainability merchant with Wegmans.
PLASTIC BAG BANS AREN’T HELPING US FIGHT AGAINST CORONAVIRUS
Wegmans’s adoption of this policy comes after several northern Virginia counties enacted a tax on plastic bags, including Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria.
The tax is set to go into effect on Jan. 1.
“The purpose of the tax is to curb our collective use of disposable plastic bags, to reduce the amount of plastic waste in our local waterways and the damage it causes,” Fairfax County said in a statement. “Plastic pollution is a serious problem for ecological and health reasons. Plastics do not biodegrade like wood or other natural materials.”
As part of the plastic bag tax, supermarkets will be allowed to keep 2 out of the 5 cents collected for each bag for the first year, after which point they will be allowed to retain 1 cent from each plastic bag purchased.
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While on the campaign trail, President Joe Biden stated that he was a supporter of eliminating the usage of plastic in response to a debate question from a Kenyan woman.
“I agree with you 100 percent,” Biden said. “We should not be allowing plastic, and what we should do is phasing it out.”
