To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if electricity produced from processes involving the recovery of clean recyclable materials will be classed as a renewable source of energy. [99372]

Under Directive 2001/77/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 27 September 2001 on the promotion of electricity produced from renewable energy sources in the internal electricity market, "renewable energy sources" are defined to include "biomass," and "biomass" is defined to include "the biodegradable fraction of industrial and municipal waste."In the UK, the renewables obligation includes the biodegradable fraction of waste only if it is converted to electricity through advanced conversion technologies such as pyrolysis, gasification and anaerobic digestion.