Wegmans To Eliminate Plastic Bags In All Stores

ROCHESTER, NY (CBS) -- Wegmans shoppers won't hear "paper or plastic" for much longer.

The supermarket chain said Thursday that "it will eliminate plastic bags companywide by the end of 2022."

Wegmans is already plastic bag-free in the state of New York, and most stores in Massachusetts. The company tells WBZ-TV that due to local legislation, Medford, Natick, Burlington, Northboro and Chestnut Hill stores have done away with plastic bags. The only Massachusetts store that still has plastic bags is in Westwood.

Wegmans will charge 5 cents per paper bag in an effort to push customers to bring reusable bags, and donate that money to charity.

Any new Wegmans stores opening this year will only offer paper bags.

"By eliminating plastic bags from the rest of our stores and focusing on transitioning our customers to reusable bags, we're preventing approximately 345,000,000 single-use bags from going into circulation in a year's time," Wegmans said in a statement.