The BBC's green credentials have taken a blow after its latest environment figures revealed its carbon footprint and amount of waste have increased, MediaGuardian.co.uk can reveal.
Carbon emissions went up to almost 0.25 tonnes per broadcast hour in 2005, compared with just over 0.15 tonnes the year before.
According to the BBC's Corporate and Social Responsibilities Report 2006 - released this week - the total waste per BBC employee also rose, from almost 250kg per person to just under 300kg.
However, recycling improved from 30% to around 37%.
And more than 95% of the electricity used by the BBC comes from green power sources such as hydroelectric power stations and wind farms.
Despite the fact carbon emissions went up, the BBC claims it is still on target to meet its original objective to reduce carbon emissions by 8% from 2002 to 2010.
In the past the BBC has issued a separate environmental review. But the corporation has now decided to amalgamate its record on achieving its green targets into its corporate responsibility report. It also does not give precise figures in the report for its emissions and waste per employee - instead representing the amounts in a bar chart.
The report blamed the reason for the rise on "a change in electricity suppliers following a competitive procurement process where we tried to strike a balance between value for money and environmental considerations. We switched from one supplying renewable electricity to one providing low carbon electricity from CHP plant (combined heat and power)."
It also said a combination of factors, "including switching contractors, staff changes and the vacation of buildings" was to blame for the increase in the total waste per person.
Although the figures are from 2005, they are the most up-to-date available, which does little to help the BBC counter accusations that it has not been taking environmental issues seriously enough.
Earlier this month Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman accused the corporation of having "laughable" green policies.
The report admits there is room for improvement and outlines changes that are being made.
It says: "We need to improve our performance on emissions. First and foremost we will reduce energy consumption.
"We have implemented an energy efficiency programme that commenced in July 2006. We have a target, in conjunction with our facilities management partner for London and Scotland, to reduce energy consumption by 3% year on year for the duration of the contract."
The report also reveals that lighting accounts for 10% to 15% of the BBC's overall energy bill. To cut that amount, one London BBC building is running a pilot scheme where lights now turn off automatically at 7pm rather than 11pm. The sensors have also been adjusted so that lights activated by movement go off after 15 minutes rather than half an hour.
In addition, in a bid to recycle more CDs and DVDs, "once we have finished with a disc, it is now sent off to be chipped and turned into plastic fencing - so it's possible that your garden fence could once have been an episode of EastEnders," says the report.
Bizarrely, the BBC is also looking at trying to extract and reclaim the gold that is in DVDs.
The report also says: "We aim to recycle an extra 5% of our waste every year. We are looking at everything from replacing polystyrene cups to introducing wooden cutlery (although that is still under review following mixed feedback from users)."
The Liberal Democrat shadow culture, media and sport secretary, Don Foster MP, said: "While the BBC has made great strides in some areas, such as recycling, far more must be done to cut waste and carbon emissions.
"All publicly funded bodies have a responsibility to practice what they preach on one of the biggest challenges of the century. The BBC is no exception.
"While government-imposed cuts to the licence fee may tempt executives to cut corners on the BBC's environmental agenda, green action can produce savings in the long run."
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