I personally do not consume any animal products (including whey protein powder), but wanted to share some points from a discussion I recently had.
(I know whey protein is technically not vegan, as it’s an animal product, but there’s an argument that it might be animal-welfare neutral or even environmentally beneficial.)
Here are the key points:
- Whey is a byproduct of cheesemaking, where only 10-20% of milk is used for cheese, and 80-90% is expelled as whey. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224421005124)
- About 50% of all milk production goes to cheesemaking, meaning there’s a lot of whey produced. Farmers often dispose of it by dumping it as fertilizer or feeding it to animals (mainly pigs).
- Whey disposal is environmentally problematic, to the point where it’s been called “the most important environmental pollutant of the dairy industry,” with 47% of it being dumped directly into drains. (https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8284110/#sec18)
So, on one hand, buying whey protein creates demand for whey processing, which could be environmentally positive. Without this market, more whey would likely be wasted, causing significant environmental harm.
On the other hand, the money ultimately supports the cheesemaking industry, which profits from animal exploitation. Even if buying whey doesn’t directly increase suffering in the short term, it helps sustain an industry that does.
Is it obvious that whey is a net negative? Could someone who’s vegan for environmental reasons justify consuming whey protein? I haven’t found any solid estimates comparing the environmental damage averted by consuming whey to the social cost of indirectly supporting cheesemaking.
Would love to hear some thoughts on this!
I spent some time looking into this since it was not obvious to me how to buy from Perfect Day. Looks like the only retail partner who sells their whey protein powder is Myprotein, most retailers sell things like ice cream.