KING

Recycling bins sit ready for pick-up.

SEATTLE- In 2006, nearly 50 percent of residential, commercial and self-haul waste was recycled instead of sent to landfills.

It was enough to set a new city recycling record, according to Mayor Greg Nickels.

Commercial recycling increased by about 5 percent compared to the year before and businesses posted a 51.7 percent recycling rate. According to an annual waste audit conducted by Seattle Public Utilities, single-family homeowners are recycling 64 percent of their garbage.

"All across Seattle, people are finding ways to waste less and reuse more," Nickels said Tuesday in a press release from the city. "We are getting closer to our goal of 60 percent recycling by 2012."

As a comparison, Seattle's recycling rate declined in the 1990s, reaching a low point of 38.2 percent in 2003.

More highlights from the audit include:

- More than 100,000 households currently participate in the city's food and yard waste collection program, to the tune of an average of 82 pounds of food, scraps and grass clippings per month.

- Businesses recycled nearly 142,000 tons of paper in 2006 .