food and beverage Archives — Sustainable Review

Business

Diving deep into the sustainability of plant milk

Written by Jared Wolf March 2, 2021February 6, 2023

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The scoop: All plant milk is more sustainable than dairy milk. But that doesn't mean all plant milks are sustainable.

SR's favorites:

Pea milk: protein-rich, noninvasive crop, good taste.
Hemp/flax seed milk: nutritious and low emission-based.
Hazelnut milk: tastes great in a cup of coffee, pollinates naturally, grows on trees.

Bottom line: Every company has a different process, but we can draw conclusions about the sustainability of certain crops. As consumer interest in plant milk keeps growing, it's important to distinguish good labels from bad labels.

The best best thing you can do is make your own plant milk at home. Just take your favorite organic, fair-trade nut or seed and mix it with water in a blender. Details in the article!

Dig deeper → 6 min

Business

Better brands: Is Beyond Meat Sustainable?

Written by Jared Wolf January 26, 2021February 6, 2023

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The scoop: Is Beyond Meat sustainable? The plant-based protein maker has turned veganism mainstream. But they need to be more transparent.

Some talking points:

Beyond Meat packaging needs work. Their flagship product (Beyond Burger) is not compostable.
Beyond Meat uses 99% less water, 93% less land, 90% fewer greenhouse gases, and 46% less energy than a traditional beef burger.
Pea protein is a sustainable protein choice, but they should prioritize sustainable farming > organic farming.
A report from 2018 criticized Beyond Meat's transparency around sustainability reporting, giving them a 0%.

Bottom line: Beyond Meat needs to revisit its supply chain, but they are on the upward trajectory for both profitability and sustainability. Quality company that just needs to keep improving. Beyond Meat is on its way to being sustainable.

Dig deeper → 6 min

Business

PepsiCo partners up for a recyclable paper bottle

Written by Jared Wolf July 24, 2020February 6, 2023

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The scoop As consumer goods go green, PepsiCo announced last week its plan to further develop and scale the world’s first recyclable paper bottle.

Paper bottles PepsiCo will begin testing on the new paper bottle in 2021. The bottle is made from sustainably sourced pulp to meet food-safe standards and is designed to be fully recyclable in standard waste streams.

Bottom line

We need innovation and ambition in the food & beverage space, this is a good place to start
Limiting the amount of waste in the ocean is always a win, but Pepsi still has a long way to go
Organizations are building new, innovative ways to clean up Pepsi’s mess.
This is definitely a bit of greenwashing
- The announcement calls for R&D testing in 2021, so we may not see paper bottles on the shelf for some time.
- Furthermore, Pepsi did not elaborate on its major paper proposal’s inevitable impact on trees.
- Will there be ecological offsets for the increased production of PepsiCo recyclable paper bottles?

Dig deeper → >1 min