SunCorp

Plastic, we shun you. Paper, stay folded. We've brought our own bags, thank you very much.

Spacious, sturdy, non-ripping, non-polluting reusable bags. Bags that don't clog up the cabinets and landfills or feed our equally-accumulating guilt.

These bags, see, make us feel good.

"Every time I walk out when I do have them, it really makes me feel like I'm doing my part to make our world a greener, healthier world," says 30-year-old Heather Dennis of Nashville. "So that's the incentive to do it; it just makes me feel good to have one less plastic bag."

We want these bags. Want them with a passion.

And you know where we're getting them?

From the grocers.

Yes, these days, above the din of "paper or plastic?" is the unspoken but larger, louder question: "How much do you care about the environment?" People started to respond. Now, grocers are, too.

Grocers take the hint

Wild Oats sells a roomy canvas tote with its logo for $7.99. In June, Kroger started selling 99-cent blue canvas-like bags stamped with its logo and "Choose to Reuse," placing them on racks around check-out stands. They've also got zippered $2.99 thermal bags. Publix has rolled out $1.49 Green Bags to its stores, placing them prominently up front, too.

"We do recycle our plastic bags," said Anna Hendricks, a Publix spokeswoman. "But some customers have asked to go a step further. We are an environmentally conscious company. It just helps us all contribute a little bit more to the environment."

Perhaps the biggest earth-friendly bag frenzy centered on a $15 canvas tote from British bag designer Anya Hindmarch cheekily emblazoned with "I'm Not a Plastic Bag."

The bag's release in Taiwan spurred a stampede that sent 30 people to the hospital. Police closed a Hong Kong mall because of a similarly rowdy mob. When the bags went on sale at British supermarkets, people began lining up at 2 a.m., and all 20,000 totes were gone by 9 a.m.

It's sold out in the United States. An eBay search churns out some 600 listings from around the world, with starting prices of as much as $250.

For the hoi polloi, that price is a little steep. We want to help save the world. But we also want to save, period. Which brings us back to a-buck-and-change bags like the ones at Kroger and Publix.

"Where I was looking before, you could spend $6 to $10" for a bag, say Dennis, who owns a couple of Green Bags. "It was such a financial commitment. This just seemed perfect."

Bringing your own bags does take a little more forethought, she admits — forgetting them at home kind of defeats the purpose — but when she does remember them, she cuts down on her trips to and from the car and even her son can have his own bag to help bring in the groceries.

Bags are selling fast

Every year, Americans discard 100 billion plastic bags, reports the Washington, D.C.-based Worldwatch Institute. The bags, made from crude oil, natural gas and other chemicals, end up clogging landfills or polluting the environment.

"Their light weight, low cost, and water resistance make them so convenient for carrying groceries, clothing and other routine purchases that it is hard to imagine life without them," the institute wrote in its "State of the World 2004" report. "But their manufacture and disposal are far from unobtrusive."

So our guilt wears away at us and we look for alternatives. Perhaps that's why Kroger and Publix report their bags are selling well. Both versions, made of non-woven polypropylene, measure 13.5 inches tall by 12.5 inches wide, and 8.5 inches deep, with handles long enough to let you throw a couple over your shoulder. They hold about three to four plastic bags' worth of groceries. Publix's Green Bags have a durable, removable length of plastic in their bottom.

"We were selling them so fast, the distribution center couldn't keep up with supply," said Greg Dean, Kroger manager of front-end operations.

It's been about two weeks since Angela Haglund picked up 10 Publix Green Bags. What would normally take 10 to 12 plastic bags now takes her about four of the reusable ones. The Nashville mother of two says she even brought the Green Bags with her to Target with no problems, although they did make her bag her own stuff.

"I'm tired of throwing away big wads of plastic bags every week," she said. "I feel like they just sit in my car until I can get to the recycling bin. I don't reuse them as much as I think I could. I wanted something I could reuse, but I couldn't find anything that was affordable. These are really affordable."

Stores can keep their paper and their plastic. Check out our range of reusable bags at http://flickr.com/photos/suncorp, they are sturd, trendy, and economical