JAT turns discarded temple flowers into paint for restoring temple murals

In Sri Lanka, where around 70% of people are Buddhist, flowers laid at temple altars symbolise the impermanence of life — and, because worshippers arrive in huge numbers, the offerings are discarded within minutes. Millions of fresh flowers were being wasted daily, while the wall murals decorating temple shrine rooms were ageing and fading.

Paint maker JAT Holdings and Leo Burnett's Colombo and Toronto offices closed the loop. They collected altar flowers after offerings, sorted them by colour, dried them, and extracted natural pigments that JAT's research team turned into a range of safe, long-lasting paints. Roughly 200 kilograms of flowers produced about 50 litres of paint, in five colours — blue, yellow, red, white and orange — chosen to echo the colours of the halo said to emanate from the Buddha on enlightenment.

The paint was given free to temple painters restoring murals across Sri Lanka, and the same tins were sold to families for decorating home shrines. Packaging borrowed the art of temple walls, with JAT's lotus logo on the lid, so the product itself looked like a shrine object rather than an industrial can.

The idea collected creative awards — the INNOVA Lotus and Lotus Roots trophies at ADFEST 2019 and two Golds at Canada's 2019 Marketing Awards — and Leo Burnett announced plans to expand Petal Paint to India, Nepal, Thailand and Indonesia, taking the flower cycle beyond Sri Lanka.