General Motors is transforming employees' recycled water bottles into noise-reducing fabric insulation used to cover the engine of the Chevrolet Equinox compact SUV. These bottles will also be repurposed into air filtration components and insulation in coats for the homeless.

The bottles, used in these projects, are collected from five of the automaker's Michigan facilities and are funneled into its “Do Your Part” project, where 11 businesses collaborate to give them another purpose.

The automaker uses recycled materials in many of its vehicles. Cardboard from various GM plants is recycled into a sound-dampening material in the Buick Verano headliner; plastic caps and shipping aids from its Fort Wayne facility are mixed with other materials to make radiator shrouds for the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra; and test tires from Milford Proving Ground are shredded and used in the manufacturing of air and water baffles for GM cars.