Bio-hydrogen (bio-H2) production from dark co-fermentation of pruning wastes, from pine, cypress, and berry trees, and food-rich municipal solid waste (FMSW) was evaluated as a promising way to combine waste management and renewable energy production. The inoculum was initially optimized by heat-shock pretreatment at 65, 75, 85, and 95 ℃ for 15, 30, and 45 min to maximize bio-H2 yields. The optimum pretreatment conditions (75 °C for 45 min) were applied for dark co-fermentation analyses. The highest bio-H2 production yield of 84 ± 6 mL/g VS was obtained by dark co-fermentation of 20 g/L pruning wastes and FMSW under initially neutral conditions. The fermentation of individual substrates led to 40.9, 0.2, 0.1, and 0.2 mL/g VS from FMSW, pine, berry, and cypress, respectively, 85% lower than that obtained through dark co-fermentation. Therefore, co-processing of a “stiff substrate”, lignocellulose, with a “loose part”, starchy FMSW, leads to a higher bio-H2 yield. Dark co-fermentation led to the bio-conversion of more than 76% of starch, 31% of glucan, and 41% of hemicellulose, besides 41% lignin removal. The modified Gompertz model (MGM) and Logistic model (MLM) were well-fitted on kinetic data (with R2 values ≥0.98), and the kinetic parameters were calculated.