newshour special correspondent lisa desai has the story. >> reporter: rose burke and john newman, an american couple that moved to france over 20 years ago, live in a three bedroom apartment on the outskirts of paris. most of their heat and electricity is powered by renewable sources, which was important to them. >> the eco-friendly aspect of the building appealed at least to me. why not try to live like the things that i care about? >> this is the first apartment he got excited about. >> reporter: excited that part of their heat and hot water comes from garbage. the process starts when they separate their recyclables from their non-recyclables. >> so this is the garbage room. this is where we throw our garbage and recycling, and it's quiet right now, but sometimes you can hear this great whooshing sound of it being carried pneumatically away to the plant. >> reporter: the tubes take the trash from john and rose's building to a plant called isseane, one of three facilities in greater paris where garbage that can't be recycled is converted into energy, some of which the plants use to