As Albemarle County and Charlottesville both consider levying a tax on plastic bags, a major grocery chain has announced they will phase out their use by the end of this calendar year.
“With this decision, the company’s goal is to shift all customers to reusable bags, the best option to solve the environmental challenge of single-use grocery bags,” reads a press release on the company’s website.
Wegmans will begin to charge five cents per paper bag, with proceeds going to local food banks or United Way chapters. The company has already eliminated plastic bags in New York, where they were banned ini 2019 by that state’s legislature. Wegmans has also experimented with eliminating them from some stores around Richmond. The release makes the claim that making the transition will eliminate over 345 million bags from going into circulation each year.
Albemarle County will hold a public hearing Wednesday evening on imposing a five-cent tax per bag. (staff report)
Charlottesville City Council will hold a work session on climate action at 4 p.m. on Monday.
ursed $184,832, leaving $42,186.01 in his account as of March 31.
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