[Anchor]
There is a young entrepreneur teaming up with local farms to create new value from agricultural products. Discarded onion peels are being reborn as a new resource.
JTV reporter Kim Min-ji has the story.
[Reporter]
Onions harvested in early summer are stacked neatly.
Cho Ga-ram, who was born and raised in Iksan and founded a cosmetics company in Seoul, focused on discarded onion peels.
This is because onion peels are rich in quercetin, a component excellent for anti-oxidation and anti-inflammation.
However, securing a stable supply of onion peel raw materials was not easy.
After traveling across the country to find onion processing companies, she finally met partner farms willing to share her vision in her hometown of Iksan.
[Cho Ga-ram / Young Entrepreneur: I contacted about 19 onion processing companies. When we first met, the owner also thought it was such a waste to throw away onion peels and gave positive feedback, saying it was a great idea.]
Farmers are also welcoming the change as what used to be discarded waste becomes a new source of income.
[So Byeong-don / Onion Farmer: It was such a waste to throw them away, but when they said they would make a product out of this, the peels now create added value, and we can supply the bulbs to the company as well. What could be better than that?]
Cho Ga-ram is currently developing cosmetics and facial cleansers utilizing onion peel extracts, and plans to release them to the market around October.
[Cho Ga-ram / Young Entrepreneur: We have made mini-sized samples of the products to be actually launched. Our goal is to launch them by October, and next year, we aim to expand overseas as well.]
A young entrepreneur's idea of discovering the value in discarded onion peels is providing local farms with a new source of income and stepping stones for the youth to reach the global market.
(Video Journalist: Kang Gyeong-jin (JTV))
Kim Min-ji, JTV
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