Fake alcohol turned into electricity

Seized fake alcohol is being recycled and turned into electricity as it contained industrial chemicals.

More than 700 litres of whisky, vodka, gin and rum was recovered by trading standards officers across Derby last Christmas, as the battle continues against counterfeit alcohol.

The bottles of spirits were unfit for human consumption as they contained industrial chemicals.

The alcohol has been taken to a Severn Trent Water plant where it will be processed to generate methane and then turned into electricity.

Trading standards officers said the contaminated alcohol was too dangerous to to be poured into the sewage system and disposing of it had proved problematic.

Vicky Levine, customer operations manager for Derby, said: “We are going to put the alcohol in our digester plant. The digesters generate methane that is then turned into electricity that gets fed into the national grid.”