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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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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
6 days ago3 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
6 days ago3 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
6 days ago3 min read
Why Community-Scale Composting Feels Slower
Community composting is often described as slow. Compared to industrial food waste systems, it can look inefficient. Buckets instead of bins. Human collection instead of automated vehicles. Time spent monitoring, turning, curing and waiting. From the outside, it can feel like a step backwards. But that sense of slowness is not a flaw. It is a signal that something different is happening. Speed Was Never the Only Goal Modern waste systems are designed around removal. Food wast
Alex Montgomery
6 days ago3 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
6 days ago3 min read
Gardens Are Infrastructure, Not a Hobby
Gardens are often treated as hobbies, but they quietly perform essential work in food systems. With around 78 per cent of UK adults having access to a garden and an estimated 25.8 million gardens across Britain, their collective impact is significant. This post reframes gardens as living infrastructure that builds soil, cycles nutrients, manages water and supports everyday food resilience.
Alex Montgomery
Jan 204 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
Composting Is Participation, Not Waste Disposal
Composting is often framed as a task to get right, which can make it feel stressful or moral. This post reframes composting as participation rather than waste disposal. It explores how community-scale systems reduce anxiety, allow imperfect contribution and help people understand compost as a living process rather than a technical test.
Alex Montgomery
Jan 203 min read
What Happens When Food Waste Stays Local
Most food waste disappears. It leaves kitchens, cafés and workplaces in sealed bins and is taken somewhere else. Processing happens out of sight. Outcomes are abstract. Responsibility feels distant. This distance shapes how we think about food waste. When we cannot see where it goes, it becomes easy to treat it as something removed rather than transformed. Keeping food waste local changes that relationship. From Disposal to Nutrient Flow Food waste is not inert. It contains
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
Gardening Isn’t Radical. Disconnection Is
Gardening is often framed as a radical act. But for most of human history, growing food and caring for soil were simply part of everyday life. What’s unusual is not gardening itself, but how disconnected many of us now are from the systems that feed us. Gardening isn’t a protest. It’s a practical response to disconnection.
Alex Montgomery
Jan 124 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
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
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
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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