DETROIT—General Motors is turning its employees’ recycled water bottles into noise-reducing fabric insulation that covers the engine in the Chevrolet Equinox. The bottles—collected from five of its Michigan facilities—are also being turned into air filtration components and insulation for winter coats for the homeless.

OAK RIDGE, TN—Recycled tires could see new life in lithium-ion batteries that provide power to plug-in electric vehicles and store energy produced by wind turbines and solar panels, say researchers at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.