Britain is not going green according to official figures which show more and more people are travelling by car and aeroplane while less than a third of rubbish is being recycled.

A new report by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has disclosed that the number of people flying from the country's airports has risen "substantially" in recent years despite increasing public awareness of the impact of carbon emissions on the environment.
 
Its figures show total passenger numbers at UK airports rose by 54m between 2001 and 2006, with Stansted seeing 10m more travellers and some regional airports such as Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol doubling their numbers.

Paul Vickers, deputy head of regional statistics for the ONS, said: "This shows the impact of cheap airlines and the use of local airports."

At the same time, the number of people taking to the roads has increased in spite of Government proposals to reduce pollution by encouraging public transport use.

New car registrations increased by 13 per cent between 1996 and 2006, while the proportion of households which have no access to a car has fallen to 25 per cent from 27 per cent.

In addition, one in three households (31 per cent) across the country now have two or more cars, an increase from 28 per cent since 2000.

The average distance travelled by car has remained the same in recent years, as have traffic levels on Britain's roads.

More than two-thirds of people travel to work by car or van, while one in three children is driven to school.

Cycling use has also fallen by 12 per cent over the past decade while bus use in the south east has decreased by a quarter.

Although recycling levels have increased in recent years, only three of Britain's 13 regions are recycling more than a third of their rubbish. The Government wants 40 per cent of waste to be recycled by 2010.

The total amount thrown out by households across the country has remained "more or less constant" despite pleas by town halls for more waste to be sent for recycling or composted, and efforts by manufacturers to use less packaging.

Wild bird populations, seen by the ONS as "good indicators" of the state of the environment, have also declined across the country, with a 15 per cent fall in farmland bird numbers in the south east and west midlands between 1994 and 2005, and a 10 per cent decrease in woodland birds in the south east over the same period.

The Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Peter Ainsworth, said: "Government should be making it easier to go green not more difficult but too often it has failed to help people make green choices with poor public transport and extra regulations.

"They have failed to lead by example with carbon emissions rising in the majority of Government departments and most are less energy efficient than a decade ago."