Supporting Regenerative Soil, Community Composting, and Local Food Systems

Healthy soil underpins healthy food, resilient communities, and a stable climate.

Yet in cities, soil is routinely overlooked, treated as waste infrastructure rather than as a living system that sustains life.

 

Generation Soil CIC exists to change that.

 

We are a Bristol-based Community Interest Company working at the intersection of community composting, soil regeneration, food waste recovery, and public education. Our work reconnects people with the ecological processes that sustain food systems, by keeping organic material local, visible, and relational.

 

This page outlines how funding supports our work, what makes our approach distinct, and how funders can engage with us.

 

 

What We Do

 

Generation Soil delivers place-based, regenerative food system infrastructure and learning, including:

 

 

Community Composting Infrastructure

 

We operate decentralised composting systems that keep food waste within local nutrient cycles, rather than exporting it out of the city. Food waste is transformed into biologically active compost and returned to gardens, allotments, and community growing spaces.

 

 

Food Waste Collection

 

We provide household and organisational food waste collection that prioritises local processing and soil return, supporting participation across different income levels and neighbourhoods.

 

 

Soil Education and Public Engagement

 

We deliver hands-on, sensory workshops and community learning experiences that help people understand soil as a living system. These encounters prioritise participation, curiosity, and care over compliance or technical instruction alone.

 

 

Urban Soil Regeneration

 

Living compost produced through our systems is returned to urban soils, improving soil structure, biological activity, and local growing capacity across Bristol.

 

 

Why This Work Matters

 

Most food waste systems are designed around speed, efficiency, and removal. When organic material is scaled too far away from people, responsibility and understanding are lost.

 

Our approach is different.

 

By keeping composting local, visible, and participatory:

 

• Food waste becomes legible rather than hidden

• Smell becomes information, not fear

• Compost becomes familiar rather than abstract

• Participation replaces guilt and disengagement

 

This is the difference between disposal and regeneration.

 

 

What Makes Generation Soil Different

 

Generation Soil is not a waste contractor or a compost retailer.

 

We work across:

 

• Soil science

• Community practice

• Education

• Care and stewardship

 

We treat composting not only as a technical process, but as a social and ecological relationship. Success is not measured solely in tonnes processed, but also in:

 

• Soil health

• Participation

• Learning

• Visibility

• Long-term capacity for care

 

This makes our work slower, more relational, and deeply rooted in place, but also more durable.

 

 

What Funding Supports

 

Funding enables us to:

 

 

Build and Maintain Infrastructure

 

• Compost bays and in-vessel systems

• Bokashi fermentation capacity

• Tools, materials, and site maintenance

 

 

Deliver Accessible Education

 

• Free and low-cost community workshops

• School and youth sessions

• Public compost and soil events

 

 

Support Participation

 

• Subsidised food waste collection

• Inclusive access for households and groups

• Community partner collaborations

 

 

Strengthen Organisational Capacity

 

• Staff time for coordination and delivery

• Evaluation and learning

• Safe, well-managed sites and sessions

 

As a CIC, all surplus is reinvested directly into our mission.

 

 

Evidence, Learning, and Accountability

 

Generation Soil is committed to transparency and learning.

 

We:

 

• Maintain clear financial records

• Share progress through reports, updates, and events

• Document outcomes through participation, soil return, and educational engagement

 

Our work also contributes to ongoing research into regenerative food systems, community composting, and soil engagement, strengthening the wider evidence base for place-based environmental action.

 

 

How Funders Can Engage

 

We welcome:

 

• Project funding

• Core funding

• Place-based partnerships

• Pilot and innovation funding

 

We are particularly interested in funding that supports:

 

• Community infrastructure

• Urban soil regeneration

• Environmental education

• Circular food systems

• Participatory and place-based approaches

 

We are happy to tailor reporting and engagement to align with funder priorities while maintaining the integrity of our work.

 

 

Get in Touch

 

If you are interested in supporting Generation Soil CIC or learning more about our work, we would be pleased to hear from you.