Wegmans is removing plastic bags from NC stores. Do plastic bans work? What to know
Attention, Wegmans shoppers: There are changes in grocery bag rules coming to stores near you.
Starting Friday, July 1, Wegmans will remove single-use plastic grocery bags from all four North Carolina stores, according to a recent press release.
The move is part of the company’s goal to eliminate plastic bags from all stores by the end of 2022. According to the company, plastic bags have been eliminated at 61 of its stores and the remaining 45 stores will be phased out in the second half of the year.
Paper grocery bags are still available at plastic-free stores for a 5-cent charge per bag, and the money collected from that charge will go to each store’s local food bank.
For all North Carolina locations, proceeds from paper bag sales will go to the Food Bank of Central & Eastern North Carolina, spokesperson Tracy Van Auker told The N&O.
Here are the four North Carolina Wegmans locations:
- Chapel Hill: 1810 Fordham Blvd., Chapel Hill
- Raleigh: 1200 Wake Towne Dr., Raleigh
- West Cary: 3710 Davis Dr., Morrisville
- Wake Forest: 11051 Ligon Mill Rd., Wake Forest
Local grocery shoppers who frequent stores like Aldi and Lidl are already accustomed to taking their own shopping bags to stores or having to pay to use bags provided by the stores.
Do plastic bag bans actually work?
One of the popular complaints when plastic grocery bags are banned is that eliminating these bags drives up the sale of other plastics, an unintended consequence that could nullify any benefits from the ban.
A 2019 NPR Planet Money report alleged that banning plastic bags “may be worse for the environment,” noting that single-use grocery bags are often used a second time for pet waste or trash can lining, and that sales of other types of plastic bags increase after such bans are instituted.
A study out of Denmark criticized the use of cotton shopping bags over plastic.
But Jennifer Sass, a U.S. chemical policy expert and senior scientist with the Natural Resources Defense Council, debunked some misinformation about the unintended consequences of plastic bags.
To learn if a plastic bag ban would increase purchases of pet waste bags and other single-use plastics, researchers at NRDC collected data on consumer habits in California grocery stores.
“Sure enough, the study confirmed that sales of trash bags ticked up following the implementation of plastic bag bans,” Sass said. “But total plastic usage was still at a net negative. In fact, the study found that even after accounting for the bump in garbage bag sales, we still used 70% less plastic overall. That’s a considerable win.”
For the full NRDC Q&A with Sass, visit nrdc.org/stories/do-plastic-bag-bans-work.
Why ban plastic bags?
Here’s what the Environmental Protection Agency says:
“A number of communities are initiating bans of plastic bags that are intended for single use, such as those commonly provided in grocery stores. The rationale behind the bag bans includes the following:
“They are typically made out of petroleum-based plastic and don’t biodegrade when they are disposed of or escape into the environment.
“When plastic bags are disposed of on land, they may be blown into creeks, lakes or oceans, where they can entangle marine life, or the animals may mistakenly eat the plastic bags thinking that they are food.
“The light-weight plastic is not easily recyclable.
“The bags are often used only once before being thrown away.”
When bans are put into place, the EPA says that replacement bags need to be compostable or recyclable, and that retailers often need to charge a fee for replacement bags to encourage customers to bring their own bags and to cover the cost of providing bags that are not single-use.
For more, visit epa.gov/trash-free-waters.
This story was originally published June 14, 2022 at 1:23 PM.
