A number of regions in Italy have significantly increased bio and organic waste separation by transforming their waste collection systems. A group of Italian cities and regions including Milan, Parma, Sardinia, Treviso, and Capannori, within a few years have significantly improved their systems, and in doing so, have saved money, created jobs, and reduced environmental impacts.

In the case of Milan, back in 2011, the city started implementing an ambitious scheme to separately collect bio-waste and recycle it back into local soil or use it to make biogas. With 1.4 million inhabitants in an extremely densely populated area, Milan is now one of the leading examples in Europe of how to design and implement an effective system. After a decade of implementation, in 2019 the system collected 95 kg of bio-waste per inhabitant with a contamination rate of less than 5%, whilst the city also had a total municipal waste separate collection rate of 62%.