Discarded plastic soda bottles can be transformed into a vibrant purple paint that cools down buildings by over 12 degrees Celsius.

Upcycling plastic usually results in low-value materials like park benches or speed bumps. A new chemical process reconstructs PET plastic waste into a high-performance pigment that reflects nearly 97 percent of infrared heat. When applied to a surface, this purple material significantly lowers the temperature of the structure underneath. This turns a major pollution problem into a tool for fighting the urban heat island effect and reducing air conditioning costs. It proves that we can solve two environmental crises at once by treating plastic waste as a high-tech building material.