A study was conducted at selected Forest Service districts to establish waste generation rates for major recreational activities and to determine the cost of solid waste handling. Study teams collected solid waste from recreational areas during the study periods and weighed and sorted it into three categories: food wastes, other combustibles, and noncombustibles. Waste quantities produced by each recreational activity were correlated to the use the area had received during a 1-day period of waste accumulation. The standard measure of recreational use was the 'visitor day,' defined as 12-hr use of a recreational facility by one person or use by many persons whose aggregate time in an activity equals 12 hr. Some of the results of the study were that generation rates did not vary regionally or with the level of campground development; that containers were well-designed and maintained; that land-disposal sites were de facto dumps, not operated to local, State, or Federal standards; and that the distance from the Forest Service recreational area to the disposal site and the intensity of recreational use in the area had the most influence on the cost of solid waste collection. (Author)