uk's future Energy, a green energy accreditation scheme, is designed to give consumers the choice to buy electricity derived from environmentally-friendly sources. But Friends of the Earth ( f o e ), a non-governmental organisation ( ngo ), has accused the government of watering down the labelling system by including energy generated through the incineration of household waste.

However, says Sam Armstrong of the Energy Savings Trust ( est ), "By including energy from waste, we've gone with the government's definition of renewable energy.' est is a government-funded organisation that operates and supervises initiatives aimed at reducing carbon dioxide emissions. It has developed the Future Energy scheme. At the heart of f o e' s criticism is its belief that energy generated from burning household waste cannot be defined as renewable energy. "The problem is that incinerators are working with metals and plastics which are fossil fuel-based,' says Mike Childs, senior waste campaigner at f o e .