The “it” bag of 2009 isn’t from a premium fashion designer like Louis Vuitton. No, in this time of pinching pennies and being “green,” the trend is toward reusable bags and totes that eco-conscious shoppers take with them to the grocery store.

Most large grocery retailers now sell bags made of cloth or recycled plastic that can be used again and again and serve as shoppers’ “bag” of honor that they care about conserving natural resources.

Celebrities and designers have used their fame to promote reusable bags. Eva Longoria Parker, native Texan and star of ABC’s “Desperate Housewives,” co-designed a limited-edition reusable shopping bag with H-E-B stores, available for $1.49 plus tax. The company donates 5 cents from the sale of each reusable bag to a grant to fund recycling programs across Texas.

“The environment is very important to me and through various initiatives of my own and with partners like H-E-B, I work to educate people about what they can do to save the planet by using less energy, recycling and implementing ‘green’ business and personal practices,” Parker says.

Most retailers give shoppers 5 cents to 10 cents off their bill for each reusable bag filled at the checkout. At that rate, it doesn’t take long for a reusable bag to pay for itself.

A reusable bag program offered by natural and organic foods retailer Whole Foods Market in 2007 turned a relatively plain cotton sack into a fashion statement. The company worked with Anya Hindmarch, a British designer of high-end handbags that sell for upwards of $1,000 each, to design a cotton tote emblazoned with the declaration, “I am not a plastic bag.” The bag sold out at Whole Foods stores within a matter of hours and became a must-have for fashionistas from London to New York. The bags soon turned up on online auction sites selling for $100 apiece or more. They originally sold at Whole Foods for $5 each.

In April 2008, Whole Foods became the first supermarket chain in the U.S. to eliminate disposable plastic grocery bags at all its stores. One year later the company announced the use of reusable bags had tripled at its stores over 12 months, keeping an estimated 150 million plastic bags out of landfills.

Whole Foods’ approach “will be too aggressive for some retailers, as it crosses the line from asking to telling your consumers what to do,” writes David Diamond, Progressive Grocer columnist, in a recent issue of the magazine. But it’s a simple way for grocers to build customer good will, he says.

According to the anti-plastic bag group and reusable bag seller Reusablebags.com, about 500 billion bags made out of high-density polyethylene film get used every year. That’s about 1 million bags per minute. Only about 3 percent of those bags are recycled, while many more end up in trees, waterways and landfills, asserts the company, which was launched in 2003.

“Is the plastic bag the worst thing adversely affecting our environment? Probably not,” concedes the group. “However it is very important because of its ubiquitous nature. Nearly all of us use them – all the time.”

Meanwhile, according to members of a group calling itself Savetheplasticbag.com, there’s a lot of misinformation out there. Savetheplasticbag.com enthusiasts say a lot of plastic bags do get recycled and the ones that don’t use only 0.4 percent of landfill space.

Supporters of the two groups agree on one thing. They both oppose plastic bag bans that are spreading across the country. San Francisco in 2007 became the first city to ban plastic bags. Other city and state governments are considering bans or at least bag taxes that consumers would pay at the checkout.

A bill under consideration in the New Jersey Legislature, A1641, would require large retailers all across that state to cut the use of “non-compostable” plastic bags 50 percent by Nov. 30, 2010. It would ban them outright about a year later.

Whether it’s the result of a governmental ban, store promotions or just consumers’ desire to be “green,” the days of hearing, “Paper or plastic?” at the checkout may be numbered.

Do you use paper or plastic bags supplied by the grocery store or do you bring your own bags?