Four Loko Redux: From a "Wide-Awake Drunk" Energy Drink to Ethanol
Four Loko, the alcohol-energy drink that gives users that wide-awake drunk feeling, seemed destined for the trash heap once federal regulators started cracking down on the malt alcohol beverage. But Four Loko and other caffeinated malt alcohol drinks -- some which contained a whopping 12 percent alcohol -- will get a new life as ethanol.
MXI Environmental Services has already received a couple hundred truckloads from wholesalers since the FDA issued warning letters to four beverage makers that threatened seizures of their product, according to an AP report. MXI also has a contract to accept the now discontinued Four Loko drinks from manufacturer Phusion Projects.
It might surprise folks that a company like MXI can recycle beer, wine, spirits, cosmetics and pharmaceutical byproducts and convert some of these products into ethanol. There are actually three companies, MXI included, that can recycle ethanol in the U.S, according to the AP.
Expand that to the much broader waste-to-energy sector and you'll find some pretty big players like Waste Management (WM) that aim to make the most out of landfill space and diversify their revenue source. Waste Management has invested in a number of waste-to-energy ventures including green gasoline maker Terrabon and Enerkem, a company that turns municipal sold waste, construction wood and agricultural residue into gas that can be refined into ethanol.
Waste-to-energy ventures won't meet our energy needs, globally or in the U.S. Not even close. However, it will help keep municipal waste in check and even provide some local energy sources. Take the Four Loko situation as one example. MXI will not only distill the alcohol from the drinks and sell it to a refiner, the company also will recycle the cardboard packaging, shipping pallets and the water contained in the drink. None of it will reach the landfill.
The benefits have fueled global interest in the sector. Worldwide revenues from waste-to-energy systems are projected to increase from $3.7 billion in 2010 to nearly $13.6 billion by 2016, Pike Research said in a report last month.
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Photo from Flickr user House of Sims, CC 2.0