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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
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
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
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
Best Compost Suppliers in South West England (and What to Look For)
What makes good compost, and where should it come from? This guide explores the best compost suppliers in South West England and shows how community-led, closed-loop composting in Bristol, from Heart of BS13 to St Werburghs City Farm, is regenerating soil, food systems, and local resilience.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 30, 20254 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
Why We Ignore Soil... And What That Says About How We Value What Keeps Us Alive
Why do we ignore soil when it underpins our food, health, and survival? This personal essay examines soil education, the attention economy, and how soil degradation links to modern diets, chronic illness, and the way we value what keeps us alive.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 26, 20257 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
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
Where to Buy Compost and Join Workshops in Bristol
Looking for compost or gardening workshops in Bristol? Find locally made, microbe-rich living compost from Generation Soil and learn how to make your own through our hands-on composting and soil health workshops. Perfect for gardeners, educators, and community growers who want to regenerate soil, reduce waste, and grow healthier food, right here in Bristol.
Alex Montgomery
Dec 16, 20253 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
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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