Report Finds Recycling, Disposal Increasing

Americans are recycling trash in record amounts but also are creating more and more waste that is not being reused, says a report from the Grass Roots Recycling Network.

Recycling kept 28% of municipal waste out of landfills and incinerators in 1997, the report says. It is based on the latest data available from the Environmental Protection Agency. The 28% recycling rate is triple that of 1980.

More than 150 million Americans recycle at home or work. At the same time, the amount of trash in garbage cans at homes and offices increased by 4.4 million tons -- or 6% -- from 1996 to 1997.

''Even though we are recycling a greater portion of our discards, we still are burying and burning more materials than 20 years ago,'' wrote report authors Neil Seldman and Brenda Platt of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which prepared the study for the recycling network.