top of page
The Generation Soil Revolution Blog
Composting, Food Forests And Regeneration
Explore articles, how-tos, and Bristol case studies. From real-world composting wins to soil-first growing, every post helps you turn food waste into living soil and grow more with less.
New here? Sign up for the Soil Revolution Newsletter to receive your FREE beginner guides, then visit the Compost Clinic for tailored help.
Can You Compost Coffee Grounds? (Yes, and Bristol Produces a Lot of Them)
Coffee grounds compost extremely well. Learn how households and cafés in Bristol can turn everyday coffee waste into nutrients that feed soil.
Alex Montgomery
Mar 134 min read
How to Compost Food Waste in Bristol (Even Without a Garden)
A simple guide to composting food waste in Bristol using bokashi, wormeries, home composting, and community compost systems.
Alex Montgomery
Mar 133 min read
Why Composting Feels Overwhelming (And What That Tells Us About Food Waste Systems)
Composting often feels overwhelming, but the problem may not be you. This article explores what compost anxiety reveals about modern food waste systems and how community-scale, regenerative composting changes the experience.
Alex Montgomery
Mar 34 min read
Designing Systems for Imperfect Participation in Regenerative Food Systems
Composting doesn’t require perfection. It requires systems that allow people to participate imperfectly and stay involved. In this post, we explore why designing for real life builds confidence, and why confidence is one of the most important outcomes in regeneration.
Reichelle Otsuki
Feb 263 min read
What Staying Local Makes Possible
When food waste stays local, nutrient loops strengthen. Explore how community composting in Bristol supports soil regeneration and visible, regenerative food systems.
Alex Montgomery
Feb 173 min read
You Don’t Have to Be Good at Composting
You don’t have to be good at composting. Composting isn’t a test, it’s a biological process. Here’s why community-scale, regenerative systems work best when they’re designed for imperfect participation.
Alex Montgomery
Feb 173 min read
From Kitchen to Compost to Soil: Keeping Food Waste Local
What happens when food waste stays close to where it’s created? This post explores how local composting turns kitchen scraps into living compost, supports soil health, and rebuilds nutrient loops at community scale, without guilt, purity, or false promises.
Alex Montgomery
Feb 24 min read
Seeing Decomposition Changes How People Act
Most people rarely see decomposition. Food waste leaves kitchens in sealed bins. It is collected, transported, processed and returned in forms that are abstract and disconnected from daily life. The work happens elsewhere. The outcomes are distant. This absence matters. When decomposition is hidden, food waste feels like something that disappears rather than something that transforms. Responsibility becomes theoretical. Learning remains shallow. When decomposition becomes vis
Alex Montgomery
Jan 253 min read
What Actually Happens to Your Food Waste
Most food waste disappears. This post makes the loop visible, from bokashi buckets to in-vessel composting and curing, then back into Bristol soil as living compost.
Alex Montgomery
Jan 253 min read
What People Learn by Composting Together
People often assume composting is something you understand first and then do. In reality, learning happens through shared practice. This post explores what people learn by composting together, from confidence and sensory awareness to systems understanding. It shows how participation creates lasting knowledge that doesn’t rely on rules or perfection.
Alex Montgomery
Jan 203 min read
What Happens When Food Waste Stays Local
When food waste stays local, nutrients return to nearby soil instead of disappearing into distant systems. Discover how visible, community-scale composting strengthens soil, gardens, and resilience in Bristol.
Alex Montgomery
Jan 203 min read
A Week Inside a Community Compost System
Community composting is often described in simple terms. Food waste goes in. Compost comes out. But between those two points is a system of care, timing and attention that is rarely seen. This post follows a typical week inside Generation Soil’s community compost system, showing what actually happens to food waste when it stays local and is composted at human scale. Not as a step-by-step manual, but as a way of making the work visible. Day 1: Collection, bucket swaps, and arr
Alex Montgomery
Jan 185 min read
Why Your Bin Stinks: Bokashi vs Food Waste Caddy (and What Actually Works)
If your food waste bin smells bad , you’re not failing at composting . You’re bumping up against a system that was never designed for kitchens, flats, or real life. Across Bristol, people are being told to separate food waste, scrape plates clean, and trust that it’s “taken care of”. But many households quickly discover the downside: smells, flies, leaks, and a general sense that food waste has become a daily nuisance. Food waste bins smell because food is rotting without eno
Alex Montgomery
Dec 30, 20254 min read
Bristol Food Waste: The Hidden Truth (and a Better Way)
Food waste in Bristol isn’t just a disposal problem. It’s lost soil fertility. This article explores where food waste really goes, why nutrients leave the city, and how local composting offers a regenerative alternative that keeps soil alive.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 30, 20256 min read
What Our Members Say About Bokashi Composting in Bristol
Bokashi composting is changing how Bristol households manage food waste. From no smells and no mess to incredible living compost, hear directly from Generation Soil members about their experiences turning food scraps into soil that feeds gardens, allotments, and communities across the city.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 26, 20253 min read
Is Composting Food Waste Safe in the City?
Is composting food waste safe in the city? This guide explains how urban composting works, what makes compost safe, and how to compost responsibly in places like Bristol. Learn how to manage smells, pests, contamination, and when compost is ready to use, plus where to get practical support if you need help.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 24, 20254 min read
What to Do if Your Compost Attracts Pests in an Urban Garden
If your compost is attracting pests, it can feel worrying, especially in an urban garden. Pests are usually drawn to exposed food waste or unbalanced compost, not composting itself. This guide explains why pests appear, how to prevent them, and what to do if they’re already present, with practical advice for composting safely in urban gardens like Bristol.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 24, 20253 min read
Why Your Compost Isn’t Breaking Down and What to Do About It
If your compost isn’t breaking down, it can feel frustrating, especially when you’re trying to do the right thing. Slow composting doesn’t mean composting has failed. In this guide, we explain the most common reasons compost stalls, how to rebalance food waste and carbon materials, and what to do to get compost breaking down again in urban gardens like Bristol.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 24, 20253 min read
Compost smells bad? How to fix common composting problems in Bristol
If your compost smells bad, it’s usually a sign that something in the composting process needs adjusting, not that composting has failed. In this guide, we explain why compost smells in urban gardens, what different odours mean, and how to fix common composting problems in Bristol using simple, practical steps.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 24, 20253 min read
What the Bristol Living Compost Project Is Teaching Us About Letting Go of “Waste”
The Bristol Living Compost Project is challenging the idea that food waste is something to get rid of. By keeping nutrients local and turning food waste into living compost, the project shows how waste is a system outcome, not a material truth. This post explores how community composting in Bristol helps restore soil health, strengthen local food systems, and reconnect people with the cycles that sustain them.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 17, 20254 min read
About Generation Soil CIC
Generation Soil is a Bristol-based non-profit turning food waste into living soil. Through the Bristol Living Compost Project, our workshops, and regenerative market gardens, we’re building a circular food system that keeps nutrients local and restores biodiversity across the city.
Every handful of compost we make begins as Bristol’s food scraps transformed through microbes, biochar, and community action. From households to schools and businesses, we help people connect with the soil beneath their feet and the food on their plates.
Explore More:
Bristol Living Compost Project
Together, we can turn Bristol’s food waste into fertile ground and grow a more resilient, regenerative future, one bucket at a time.
bottom of page