Drinking 25 bottles of pop can keep you warm for a whole winter. Sounds unbelievable? Here’s how . . .

Next time you’re a bit chilly and you pull a fleece out of your drawer, consider the fact that these pullovers can actually be made from recycled soft drinks bottles. Companies such as Patagonia and Berghaus sell jumpers, jackets, vests, socks and hats made from fleece which has been created from old plastic bottles.

Soft drink bottles are made from PET plastic (polyethyleneterephthalate). These can be melted down to make the fibres to create clothing. In fact, it takes just 25 bottles to make a medium man-sized fleece!

It takes just 25 bottles to make a medium man-sized fleece!

To make the fibres, the old bottles are placed into a water bath where they are chopped into small flakes.

This process, called “wet granulation”, cleans the bottles before they are drained of water and dried. The flake material is then melted and squeezed through tiny holes in flat plates called spinnerets.

After this, the plastic solidifies and is spun into long threads called “undrawn tow”. These long threads are then drawn together and stretched to many times their original length. The fibre is then cut to length ready for use to weave the fleece material.

Once the plastic thread has been knitted and brushed, the process of manufacturing the fleece is the same as for a woollen one!

On average, every UK household uses 440 plastic bottles each year, of which just 24 are recycled.

As well as making fleece clothing, recycled plastic bottles can be used for plant pots, car parts, toys, drainage pipes and carpets.