In Wake of Four Loko Ban, Recycler Turns Caffeine-Spiked Booze into Biofuel
Four Loko-that high-octane alcohol- and caffeine-fueled malt beverage that drew the ire of federal authorities late last year-has found a new and appropriate role in the energy cycle: automotive fuel. A Virginia ethanol recycler is taking shipments of the product, which has been pulled from store shelves in several states, and recycling it into ethanol for use in gasoline. Wholesalers from various east coast states have been buying Four Loko and several other beverages back from retailers and shipping it to MXI Enterprises in Abingdon, Va., since the FDA issued letters to four companies in November declaring that their cocktails of alcohol and caffeine led to a "wide-awake drunk" that was resulting in, among other things, fistfights, automobile accidents, alcohol poisoning, high levels of intoxication and other less-than-virtuous behaviors. The FDA went so far as to label the caffeine an "unsafe food additive." Related ArticlesGM Is Turning Recycled Deepwater Horizon Oil Containment...