Upcoming Plastic Bag Tax Prompts Wegmans To Stop Plastic Bags Use In Fairfax

FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA — One month before a new plastic bag tax takes effect, Wegmans grocery stores in Fairfax County will eliminate plastic bags.

Wegmans announced it will remove plastic bags from its Fairfax County stores, effective Dec. 1, 2021. In addition, paper bags will be available with a 5-cent surcharge for each. This applies to the stores in Fairfax, Franconia, Tysons, and Chantilly.

Fairfax County's new plastic bag tax ordinance will take effect on Jan. 1, 2022 at grocery stores, convenience stores, and drug stores after Board of Supervisors approval. The tax was adopted with the intent of discouraging single-use plastic bag use as well as pollution in local waterways.

According to a Wegmans news release, the elimination of plastic bags at Fairfax County stores aims to encourage reusable bags. Although retailers may continue to provide single-use plastic bags with a 5-cent surcharge, the elimination of plastic bags at Wegmans aligns with places in other markets with plastic bag legislation. Wegmans also eliminated plastic bags at New York state stores in 2020 and its two Richmond, Virginia stores in 2019.

"We’ve always understood the need to reduce single-use grocery bags," said Jason Wadsworth, the packaging, energy, and sustainability merchant for Wegmans. "By eliminating plastic bags and adding a charge for each paper bag, our hope is to incentivize the adoption of reusable bags, an approach that has proven successful for us in New York State and Richmond."

Under state legislation, localities that adopt a plastic bag tax may use revenue for environmental cleanup programs, pollution and litter mitigation programs, educational programs on environmental waste reduction, and to purchase reusable bags for recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) benefits. Localities will receive revenue after deductions for retailers and costs for Virginia Department of Taxation to administer the tax. To aid retailers with the transition, retailers will retain two cents from the tax on each disposable plastic bag through Dec. 31, 2022. After that date, retailers will retain one cent from the tax on each bag.

Aside from Fairfax County, the City of Alexandria and Arlington County are implementing their own plastic bag tax ordinances starting Jan. 1, 2022. Other Northern Virginia localities are discussing their own potential ordinances.