Wrapsacks, the Gift Bag That Keeps On Giving

Feeling a bit eco-smug because you buy recycled paper and reuse your gift bags? Ha!

Four years ago, a couple in Spokane, Wash., went a big green step further. Disgusted by wads of discarded holiday wrappings, they came up with an idea for cotton drawstring bags that could be used over and over. They called them Wrapsacks and had them produced in hand-dyed Indonesian batik patterns. As an additional global-village touch, each sack carried a serial number that could be tracked online as the bag made its way from giver to giftee.

As of this writing, one Wrapsack, which originated in East Wells, Vt., has traveled more than 15,000 miles through 15 cities around the world.

"We wanted a way to really engage people in the idea of reuse," says Michael Miner, who started the company along with his wife, Kathryn Hapke.

Wrapsack owners, who are encouraged to give their bag a name, can register the serial number on http://www.wrapsacks.com, along with details of where the bag is headed. Then they can return to the site to see where it has journeyed, a service called Track-a-Sack. Miner says about 18,000 of the 100,000 purchasers of the Wrapsack have participated.

The bags, available at most Whole Foods stores, come in seven sizes and cost between $3 and $9. "We think of the idea sort of like a message in a bottle," Miner says. "You never know where the bag is going to end up."

That bag from Vermont was last seen in October 2005 in Maidstone, England.