Although the separation of residential food waste is promoted by European legislation, Milan is one of the first cities around the world and the largest city in Europe to achieve this goal. The quantity (90 kg/person year) and the quality (4% of non-compostable waste) of the collected waste are a clear signal of the project’s success.
Separate food waste collection and the process of anaerobic digestion and composting has resulted in a reduction of 8,760 ton CO2/year in 2014, which is expected to increase in 2015 to 9,500 ton/year (since collection was extended to the whole municipality only in June 2014).
The project also has other positive effects due to the production of biogas, which results in an analogous reduction in fossil fuel use, and compost production, which is used for soil remediation and in agriculture.