What is Upcycling & Why Does It Matter?
Upcycling is nature-positive. Upcycling is a food system solution that is also a climate change solution. Upcycling is a movement.
Take Two uses upcycled, nutrient-rich grain to create delicious, nourishing plant-based barleymilk. We’re on a mission to help upcycle the billions of pounds of spent grain that go to waste every year, as part of beer brewing. We are so excited to be partnering with Marlene’s Market & Deli to grow our impacts together!
What is upcycling?
Upcycling is not a new practice, it’s an ancient one! Upcycling’s ‘roots’ are the wonderful, creative food preservation practices from across the globe and across cultures: canning, jarring, pickling, salting, fermenting, dehydrating, and even simply eating leftovers. In modern times, these practices aren’t necessarily always used as strategies for avoiding or reducing food waste, but they certainly are powerful food waste solutions!
Here’s the definition of upcycled food, as created and formalized by the Upcycled Food Association:
“Upcycled foods use ingredients that otherwise would not have gone to human consumption, are procured and produced using verifiable supply chains, and have a positive impact on the environment.”
Did you know that over 1/3 of the food grown, produced, and manufactured globally goes to waste? It ends up in landfills or incinerators, is used for industrial purposes, or goes to feed livestock. But these are not the highest and best solutions for food that could feed humans!
Our partners and the process
The barley Take Two (eventually) uses in our barleymilk is grown all over the world by a global network of dedicated malt barley growers: small, local farmers, regional cooperatives, and larger producers. These growers specialize in producing the world’s top malt barley varieties for use in commercial beer production.
During beer-brewing, only the grain’s carbohydrates/sugars are extracted and used to make the beer. What is leftover post-beermaking is the nutrient-dense protein and fiber that barley naturally contains. Historically, this nutrient-dense protein and fiber has been deemed simply a “byproduct” and discarded – sent either to landfills, or to feed livestock, both of which produce greenhouse gas emissions and require additional energy and resources that create further unsustainable impacts.
But with the increase of food technology innovations, especially technology innovations in upcycling, ‘spent’ grain can now be given a second life! Take Two has partnered with sustainable ingredient company called EverGrain. Following the highest food manufacturing and quality standards, EverGrain extracts the protein and fiber from the spent grain and dries it into sustainable protein and fiber powders. Take Two proudly uses this upcycled barley protein in our barleymilk.
Why does upcycling matter?
The simple answer is: IMPACT!
Imagine the resources needed to grow barley from seed on a single plot of land. For example, there is the energy and water required to work the land and grow the barley, and there are the greenhouse gas emissions that processing the barley will generate.
By using upcycled barley protein, Take Two is avoiding re-creating these impacts. And here are examples of specific, positive impacts we are creating!
By using spent grain, every gallon of Take Two Barleymilk (based on averages across sizes and flavors):
-Saves about 3lbs of spent grain.
-Diverts over 8 lbs of CO2eq emissions, which is the same as driving over 9 miles in a car.
-Saves nearly 300 gallons of water, which is the same as about 17 showers.
Since launching in March 2020, Take Two has:
-Saved over 370,000 lbs of spent grain;
-Diverted about 500 tons of CO2eq emissions, which is the same as driving over 1.1 million miles in a car;
-Saved over 35 million gallons of water, which is the same as about 56 Olympicsize swimming pools.
By the end of 2022, Take Two is on track to more-than-double our impacts, and save over 1 million lbs of spent grain! We hope you’ll join us on our journey! Simply by using We hope you’ll join us on our journey!
