Method Soap Co-Founder Creates Sustainable Milk Made From Peas

Adam Lowry, founder of sustainable soap brand, Method, has moved to address the unsustainability of milk for his newest venture. Together with Dr. Neil Renninger, co-founder of biotech company Amyris, the pair co-founded Ripple Foods. Their first product is a dairy-free, plant-based milk, reports Food Navigator.

Co.Exist points out the massive carbon footprint of dairy, stating that a single gallon of milk takes 1,000 gallons of water to produce. On Ripple's plant-based milk, Lowry says, "It's a lot more like dairy milk than any other dairy-alternative milk on the market." Using a patent-pending purification process involving a combination of pH, salts, pressure, and temperature, the Ripple team has created a product that is creamy, sweet, and does not taste like peas.

The final product has eight grams of protein, the same amount as milk from cows, and a third of the saturated fat and 50 percent more calcium than dairy milk. Using peas to make milk also has a smaller carbon and water footprint than other alternatives. The company has calculated that its plant-based milk takes 96 percent less water to make than almond milk, 99 percent less than dairy milk, and 76 percent less soy milk. Its overall carbon footprint is 93 percent smaller than dairy.

On the motivation behind Ripple Foods, Lowry says, "I want to create as much good through business as I can in my career. And there comes a point at which in order to do that it makes sense to build another thing that creates social and environmental benefit, in addition to the thing that you've created. That was really the motivation behind it."

Read more on sustainable eating and why it is important.