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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.
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How Generation Soil Began
Generation Soil didn’t begin with compost infrastructure or a business plan. It began with questions about food, soil, and the systems that quietly shape our daily lives. This is the story of how those questions led to community composting, living soil, and the Bristol Living Compost Project.
Alex Montgomery
Mar 205 min read
Why Consistency Matters More Than Perfection in Composting
Composting doesn’t require perfection. It requires consistency. Discover why steady participation builds stronger soil, deeper confidence, and more resilient compost systems than getting every detail exactly right.
Reichelle Otsuki
Mar 193 min read
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
Why Small-Scale Composting Creates Stronger Soil
Compost tumbler dispensing decomposed material into a white bucket on woodchip ground. Green cover, wooden shed, and nature in background.
Reichelle Otsuki
Mar 94 min read
What Composting Teaches Us About Environment and Behaviour
Composting reveals something deeper than waste management. It shows how environment shapes behaviour. When food waste stays visible and local, participation grows naturally. Change the design, and behaviour changes with it.
Reichelle Otsuki
Mar 33 min read
From Lockdown Gardening to Community Composting: How Generation Soil Began
Generation Soil is a community composting project in Bristol that turns local food waste into living compost, keeping nutrients within the city and supporting regenerative food systems.
Alex Montgomery
Mar 14 min read
Closing the Loop at UWE Bristol: From Kitchen Scraps to Living Soil
Food waste doesn’t disappear when it leaves the kitchen. In this partnership with UWE Bristol’s Wild Kitchen, we’re keeping it close, turning scraps into living compost that feeds soil, learning, and future harvests on campus.
Alex Montgomery
Feb 13 min read
Why We Don’t Measure Success Only in Tonnes
In composting, success is often measured in tonnes. Tonnes collected, processed, diverted. But regeneration cannot be understood through volume alone. This piece explores what tonnage misses, and why soil health, participation, visibility, and learning matter more than speed or scale.
Alex Montgomery
Jan 253 min read
What Generation Soil Is Not
Generation Soil is not a waste contractor or a compost retailer. This post explains what community-scale composting is not, and why regeneration depends on keeping nutrients, responsibility, and soil local.
Alex Montgomery
Jan 253 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
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 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
Why Living Compost Starts With Listening, Not Fixing: Lessons From Bristol’s Soil
Living compost does not respond well to force. It responds to attention. In this post, we explore why the Bristol Living Compost Project focuses on listening before fixing, and what soil teaches us about patience, care, and regenerative practice. Drawing on lessons from composting in Bristol, the article shows how working with living systems leads to healthier soil, stronger communities, and more resilient local compost systems.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 17, 20254 min read
Listening to Soil: How Bioacoustics Reveals the Hidden Life Underground
Soil isn’t silent — it’s alive with sound. The emerging science of soil bioacoustics allows us to hear the vibrations of worms, microbes, and fungi beneath our feet. At Generation Soil, we’re using this technology to explore how healthy soils “sing,” connecting composting, regeneration, and climate action in Bristol and beyond. Listen closer, the earth is speaking, and it’s full of life.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 16, 20254 min read
From Waste to Resource: Why Food Waste Policy Needs a Regenerative Shift
The UK’s food waste system is efficient, but not regenerative. In this thought-provoking piece, Generation Soil explores how local composting and soil regeneration could transform waste from a climate burden into a life-giving resource. It’s time for a food system that feeds both people and the planet.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 16, 20254 min read
How to Improve Urban Soil Health in Bristol
Healthy soil is the foundation of a thriving city. In Bristol, many gardens and green spaces sit on compacted or depleted ground, but with the right care, we can bring them back to life. Learn how to regenerate urban soil using living compost, biochar, and mulch, and discover how the Bristol Living Compost Project is turning local food waste into fertile ground that feeds people, plants, and community. Join the movement to grow Bristol from the ground up.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 16, 20253 min read
How Generation Soil Turns Food Waste Into Living Compost
At Generation Soil CIC, we turn Bristol’s food waste into living soil through a three-stage composting process: fermentation, in-vessel composting, and maturation. Each step builds microbial life, reduces waste, and regenerates urban soils. Learn how bokashi microbes, controlled composting, and natural maturation create compost that feeds your garden and the planet.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 16, 20254 min read
The Future of Soil: How Communities Can Lead Climate Adaptation
The future of climate adaptation begins in the soil beneath our feet. Across the UK, communities are turning waste into resilience by regenerating living soil, cutting carbon, and rebuilding connection. From Bristol’s composting hubs to neighbourhood food forests, local action is proving that the path to climate adaptation doesn’t start with policy, it starts with community.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 16, 20253 min read
The Secret Life of Waste: Inside the Bristol Living Compost Project
Food waste isn’t waste, it’s life waiting to return. The Bristol Living Compost Project transforms kitchen scraps into living compost that feeds the soil and cuts carbon. Using an innovative three-stage process, Generation Soil is building a citywide circular system that reconnects people to the land beneath them, proving that regeneration begins right where waste ends.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 16, 20253 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.
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