Four Loko, other drinks turned into ethanol in Va.

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Truckloads of Four Loko and other alcohol-laced energy drinks are being recycled into ethanol and other products after federal authorities told manufacturers the beverages were dangerous and caused users to become “wide-awake drunk.”

Wholesalers from Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and other East Coast states has started sending cases of the high-alcohol, caffeinated malt beverages to MXI Environmental Services in Virginia. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced a crackdown on the sale of such beverages in November.

Brian Potter, vice president of operations at MXI’s facility in Abingdon, Va., says about a couple of hundred truckloads of the drinks would be coming to the plant. MXI Enterprises is one of three facilities in the U.S. recycling the drinks.