The Whey Forward: Why Your Kefir By-Product is Too Valuable to Waste
Every time you make labneh, strain yogurt, or produce fresh cheese, you're creating two products: the creamy solids we are straining it for, and the pale liquid that most people tip down the drain. That liquid is whey - and pouring it away is throwing away another precious product - full of nutrition, and also tossing a living culture into the sewage system.
Financially - it's like throwing cans and bottles out instead of taking them to the container deposti scheme to get your .10c back. :)
You've gone to the effort of culturing beautiful milk kefir. You've invested in quality milk, time, and care. Why send those living cultures and concentrated nutrients into the sewage system when they could nourish you instead? It is also bad news for the environment - and illegal.
Whey from milk kefir contains billions of beneficial bacteria and yeasts - the same living cultures that fermented your milk, plus concentrated protein, B vitamins, calcium, phosphorus, and potassium.
Why whey matters
Whey from milk kefir is raw, unpasteurised, and alive with the same probiotic bacteria and yeasts that fermented your milk in the first place. We're talking billions of beneficial microorganisms, plus a concentrated hit of protein, B vitamins (particularly B12 and riboflavin), calcium, phosphorus, and potassium. The lactose content is minimal - most has been consumed during fermentation - while the lactic acid content is high, giving whey its characteristic tang and impressive digestive benefits.
This isn't the powdered whey protein bodybuilders use (that's a heavily processed by-product of industrial cheese-making). This is traditional, living whey - the kind that's been used in European and Middle Eastern kitchens for thousands of years as medicine, preservative, and cooking liquid.
The environmental case
Here's the uncomfortable truth: whey has a very high biological oxygen demand (BOD). When it goes down your drain and enters waterways, it depletes oxygen as it breaks down, harming aquatic life. Commercial dairies treat whey disposal as a serious environmental challenge, often paying to have it processed or turning it into animal feed.
Whey is approximately 175 times more polluting than raw, untreated human sewage when discharged into waterways. Its high BOD (40-60 g/L) and COD (50-80 g/L) can create "dead zones" devoid of aquatic life.
The Case Against Dumping: A Cautionary Tale
The pre-regulation era
Before environmental legislation caught up with industrial dairy production, cheese whey was routinely dumped directly into rivers and streams across the United States and Europe. Cheesemakers viewed it as waste disposal, pure and simple - the cheapest way to get rid of a by-product they saw no value in.
The ecological consequences were devastating. When discharged into waterways, whey's extremely high biological oxygen demand triggered massive algal blooms. These blooms consumed oxygen as they decomposed, suffocating fish and other aquatic life, creating what researchers called "dead seas" - lifeless stretches of water devoid of oxygen.
The legislative response
The US Clean Water Act of 1972, enforced through the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES), made it illegal to discharge whey and other dairy pollutants into waterways without proper treatment and permits. Similar legislation followed in Europe, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. The EU's Landfill Directive (1999/31/EC) went further, banning whey disposal in landfills entirely.
These weren't theoretical concerns. The regulations came after repeated environmental disasters.
In August 2025, inadequately treated dairy wastewater from Great Lakes Cheese in New York killed tens of thousands of fish and countless other aquatic species in Ischua Creek, including a rare eastern Hellbender salamander. The facility had been violating discharge permits for months, with phosphorus levels reaching 711% above legal limits. Authorities estimate the creek will take 5-10 years to recover.
Australia's Ongoing Problem
This isn't just ancient history or an American issue. Right here in Victoria, dairy effluent contamination remains a persistent environmental problem.
Between 2022-2025, EPA Victoria has issued dozens of fines to Gippsland dairy farms for allowing effluent to overflow into local creeks and rivers. The pattern is depressingly familiar: poorly maintained effluent ponds overflow, contaminated water flows into waterways like Pheasant Creek, Lamont Creek, and Lang Lang River, affecting fish and other aquatic life downstream.
In one 2022 Gippsland case, dairy effluent flowing into Little Pheasant Creek "contaminated the creek, affected fish and other aquatic life, and posed a potential hazard to people and livestock downstream." During targeted EPA inspection sweeps, seven farms were collectively fined more than $20,000 in a single operation for effluent mismanagement.
EPA's Gippsland Regional Manager described the situation bluntly: "Dairy effluent is high in substances that may be toxic and pose a risk to the environment and human health. It cannot be allowed to be discharged to waterways."
These aren't industrial cheese factories - these are farms, much like the dairies supplying your milk. The difference is scale, not substance. Your labneh whey has the same biological oxygen demand, the same capacity to deplete oxygen and harm aquatic life, as the effluent from commercial operations.
From waste to wealth
And now for the economic twist: the very legislation that banned whey dumping created the whey protein industry. Faced with a disposal problem and potential legal liability, dairy producers invested in membrane filtration, ultrafiltration, and spray-drying technologies. They discovered they could separate whey into highly valuable components: protein concentrates and isolates that are now worth more per pound than the cheese they came from.
The global whey protein market is now worth billions. What was literally poured into rivers as worthless waste in the 1960s is now a premium nutritional product. But that transformation only happened because dumping became illegal and expensive.
The home-scale responsibility
You're not producing industrial volumes of whey, but the principle remains: whey doesn't belong in waterways or sewage systems. Even at household scale, the concentrated sugars and proteins burden wastewater treatment systems, alter pH in septic tanks, and contribute to biological oxygen demand in local watersheds.
Anyway - why flush it into the sewage system when you can drink it, cook with it, feed your garden, or culture it into wild sodas?
Traditional cultures didn't have environmental regulations to guide them. They simply couldn't afford to waste anything. We have both the environmental imperative and the historical wisdom pointing in the same direction: keep your whey.
How to store whey
Whey keeps beautifully. Transfer it immediately to clean glass jars and refrigerate. It will hold for 6 months easily, often longer. The acidity acts as a natural preservative. If it develops a slightly stronger smell over time, that's normal - it's still perfectly usable. Some separation may occur; just shake before using.
You can also freeze whey in ice cube trays, then transfer the cubes to a container. This gives you portion-controlled whey ready to drop into smoothies or soups.
Whey stores for 6+ months refrigerated. Freeze in ice cube trays for portion-controlled additions to smoothies, soups, and bread dough.
Ten ways to use your whey
1. Smoothie booster - Add 50-100ml to any smoothie for a protein and probiotic hit. The tang works brilliantly with berries, mango, or banana. It thins the texture slightly while adding complexity.
2. Soup and stock base - Replace some or all of the water in soup recipes with whey. It adds body, subtle tang, and umami depth. Particularly good in potato, lentil, or vegetable soups. The acidity also helps extract minerals from bones if you're making stock.
3. Bread and pizza dough - Replace water with whey in any bread recipe. The acidity strengthens gluten development, creates a better crumb, and adds keeping quality. Your bread will stay fresh longer.
4. Cooking grains and legumes - Use whey instead of water to cook rice, quinoa, or lentils. The acidity reduces cooking time and increases mineral absorption. An old trick for making beans more digestible.
5. Lacto-fermented vegetables - Use whey as a starter culture for fermenting vegetables. Add 2-3 tablespoons per litre of brine when making sauerkraut, pickles, or kimchi. It kickstarts fermentation and ensures a reliable result.
6. Wild sodas - As detailed in our companion recipe, whey makes extraordinary naturally fermented sodas. [Link to wild soda recipe]
7. Garden fertiliser - Dilute whey 1:10 with water and use as a foliar spray or soil drench. The nutrients feed beneficial soil microbes and plants love it. Particularly good for tomatoes and brassicas.
8. Pet food additive - Dogs and cats can benefit from small amounts of whey mixed into their food. Start with a teaspoon and increase gradually. The probiotics support their gut health too.
9. Facial toner - Lactic acid is a prized skincare ingredient. Dilute whey 1:1 with water, apply with cotton wool as a gentle exfoliating toner. Rinse after a few minutes. (Patch test first.)
10. Marinade base - The acidity in whey tenderises meat beautifully. Use it to marinate chicken, lamb, or pork for 2-24 hours. Add herbs, garlic, and olive oil for a complete marinade.
11. Whey caramel (Primost) - This traditional Scandinavian spread is made by slowly reducing whey until the milk sugars caramelize. The result is somewhere between fudge and cheese - sweet, tangy, and utterly addictive on toast. [See my full Whey Caramel recipe here]
Utilising Resources
Traditionally, every by-product had a purpose, every scrap was utilised. When you keep your whey rather than pouring it away, you're practicing the kind of resourceful, respectful food culture that's sustained humans for millennia.
Your whey represents living culture, concentrated nutrition, and culinary possibility. Treat it accordingly.
