The sustainability of animal products
There’s a lot of talk about the benefits of animal based products, but few people talk about the sustainability of them. In this article, we’ll lay out the case for why animal based products are the most environmentally friendly option.
1) Multitude of uses.
Animal fats from livestock are left over after meat processing, where they are then rendered down into some variation of tallow, oil or lard. They are then ready to use for cooking, skincare, candle making or any other purpose you can think of. These animal fats are only harvested because the primary purpose of the animal is food, which is why it is slaughtered and processed in the first place.
When considering the sustainability and environmental impact of a product, we must look at how many uses that product, and ones associated with it have. For example one cow can provide meat for consumption, tallow for a multitude of uses, hides and leather and that only names a few. Plant fats on the other hand are typically only grown for the purpose of becoming an oil with refinement, and have few other uses.
2) Ease of refinement.
After animal fats are removed during processing, they are separated, and rendered down to remove any remaining meat. The end result is a rendered tallow. It’s pretty simple, and doesn’t require any industrial machinery, or chemicals.
When it comes to plant fats, there is absolutely a scale when it comes to ease of refinement. On the low end you have things like shea butter, which have been processed by hand for thousands of years. On the other hand you have something like canola or sunflower oil. These are known as “seed oils”. These seed oils are grown as a mono crop which is more than likely depleting soil and destroying its microbiome. Mono crop operations typically operate at massive scale with large equipment being necessary for every step. These plants are harvested with a machine, require machines to be refined, and many of these oils undergo chemical rinses to become usable. Even still a UC Davis study found that 80% of commercially available avocado oils are rancid by the time the consumer purchases them. Tallow on the other hand is extremely shelf stable and requires minimal processing relative to plant fats.
3) Efficiency of transport.
The entire process of raising an animal all the way through to rendered tallow can happen all in one state, if not one piece of land. The yield of animal fats to tallow is relatively high, and one animal can produce several pounds of useable fat, making regenerative and smaller operations a viable option.
Plant fats as mentioned are typically only viable at large scale, industrial operations, because the yield is less when compared cattle or other animals. The process of turning a plant into an oil is considerably more steps and more steps means more transportation. Plant fats often make their way from where they are planted and harvested, transported to a refinery in another territory or country, transported to be packaged, and then imported to where it will be sold. This transportation adds to the environmental impact considerably. The point is that plant fats require more steps, in more places, with more inputs in order to come to market.
4) Responsible Sourcing.
A lot of the things we discussed in this article are dependent on sourcing. For example, shea butter that was grown and refined by a native tribe in Africa obviously has a lesser environmental impact than tallow from a factory farm in Argentina. The source matters, and it’s why we source our primary ingredients like tallow, emu oil, beeswax, and honey from family farms and ranches that are local to us in Montana. These products never have to leave the state and require minimal inputs in order to become the final ingredient that we purchase, and formulate into skincare products. The fact that we can see where what we’re buying is coming from ensures quality, and it keeps ranchers ranching.