Wegmans in Pa. to eliminate single-use plastic bags in late September
KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa. - The latest plastic bag ban hits Wegmans in Pennsylvania. In less than two weeks,18 of its stores will stop offering single-use plastic bags.
"A good thing to do with plastic is use it as much as you can," Manas Mondal said.
Every week, Mondal goes to Wegmans to return his plastic bags. "As long as they’re clean, you can just return it to the store. They have a spot you can just drop it off. It goes into recirculation."
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But, Saturday was one of his last trips, as Wegmans has announced Pennsylvania stores are eliminating plastic bags at check-out beginning September 22nd.
"They’re just messy," Kenneth Burlen commented. Burlen and his family grocery shop for a month’s worth of food at a time and prefer reusable bags. "You see the plastic bags with debris on the streets, hanging in trees. Just get rid of it."
Most people who use reusable bags have forgotten to grab those bags from home or the car before running errands.
"I’m embarrassed that I have all my plastic bags, despite having the reusable bags sitting in the trunk. If it weren’t for having my daughter, I would’ve run back out and gotten them. I just forgot to take them in," Katie Barell explained.
Wegmans says, while plastic bags will be gone, shoppers can purchase brown bags for 5 cents each.
"We hear about plastics. We all know what plastics do the environment. They are harmful," Mondal remarked.
Wegmans hopes by charging people 5 cents per paper bag, it’ll encourage the use of reusable bags and, they say, the money collected from the bag charge will go to the United Way.