The Troy Record reports that Price Chopper, Market Bistro, and Market 32 chain of grocery stores will stop handing out thin film plastic bags again beginning Aug. 1. New York had banned the bags beginning March 1, and has since temporarily lifted the ban because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are taking this step now – before it is required – because we support the noble intent of this law to reduce plastic in the waste stream and have seen the paper bag supply chain, which tightened during the initial weeks of the pandemic due to panic buying, ease somewhat," Mona Golub, Price Chopper’s vice president of public relations and consumer services, said. Read more about this story in The Troy Record.