Wegmans to test eliminating plastic grocery bags

RICHMOND, VA (WTVD) -- Wegmans is testing out getting rid of single-use plastic bags.

The grocery store chain--which just opened a location in Raleigh and has plans to open locations in Cary, Chapel Hill and Wake Forest--announced Monday it would be removing plastic bags from two stores in Virginia.

When the pilot program begins on Oct. 21, the two stores will have paper bags available for purchase at 5 cents per bag. The money collected from that bag fee will then be donated to Feed More, which is the food bank near those two stores.

"We won't make any decisions on removing plastic bags from other stores until we have all the learnings from the pilot," a Wegmans spokesperson said in a statement to ABC11.

SEE ALSO: Take a look inside the new Raleigh Wegmans location

Wegmans said 90 percent of customers who shop at the two pilot stores believe plastic grocery bags are bad for the environment and a majority of those customers want to move away from using plastic bags.

"We are focused on doing what's right by encouraging all of our customers to switch to reusable bags, the best option to solve the environmental challenge of single-use grocery bags.
To help with the transition, we will start by eliminating single-use plastic bags, while still making paper bags available for a 5-cent charge per bag.
In stores where a small fee is charged, reusable bag usage goes up dramatically. If, together, we can make that happen, it will have an immeasurable environmental impact for decades to come."