The Unknown Impact of Soil Health on Wellbeing

Explore the Profound Link Between Composting, Nature, and Well-being.

By Alex Montgomery. Founder, Generation Soil CIC. Doctoral Researcher in Food Systems & Soil Health

Could a simple act like composting food waste improve not just the environment, but your wellbeing too?

It sounds modest, almost unremarkable. But when you slow down and look closely, composting reveals something much bigger. It sits at the intersection of soil health, nature connection, food systems, and human wellbeing. It turns waste into nourishment. Disconnection into relationship.

This article explores how composting and caring for soil can quietly but powerfully support mental health, physical health, and a deeper sense of meaning in everyday life.

Why Nature Matters for Human Health

The benefits of nature on human wellbeing are no longer niche or anecdotal. They are well documented across psychology, public health, and medical research.

Time spent in green spaces has been shown to reduce stress, lower cortisol levels, improve mood, and increase feelings of calm and clarity. Even short, regular exposure to nature can support better sleep, reduced anxiety, and improved cognitive function.

Nature as a Nervous System Regulator

Imagine walking through a quiet woodland or stepping into a polytunnel filled with growing plants. The nervous system responds almost immediately. Breathing slows. Attention softens. The body exits a constant state of alert.

This isn’t accidental. Humans evolved in relationship with living systems. When we reconnect with them, our bodies recognise the environment as safe.

Bringing Nature Into Everyday Life

Not everyone can access forests, farms, or wild landscapes regularly. But nature doesn’t need to be distant to be effective.

Small, daily interactions matter.

Houseplants can improve indoor air quality and mood. Growing herbs on a windowsill introduces care, responsibility, and rhythm into daily routines. Gardening, even at a small scale, offers a form of embodied mindfulness. You are present because something living depends on you.

These interactions shift nature from something we visit to something we participate in.

Composting as a Wellbeing Practice

One of the most tangible ways to integrate nature, health, and sustainability into daily life is through composting.

Instead of food waste disappearing into a bin, composting makes transformation visible. Scraps become soil. Decay becomes fertility. What was once “waste” becomes nourishment.

There is something deeply grounding about composting food waste in Bristol. It invites patience rather than productivity. Observation rather than control. Trust rather than perfection.

Many people are surprised by how emotional composting can feel. Watching food waste slowly transform into living compost often shifts how people relate to consumption, responsibility, and time.

Through the Bristol Living Compost Project, households and businesses see this transformation happen locally, closing the loop between food, soil, and community.

Healthy Soil, Healthy People

Healthy soil is not inert dirt. It is a living ecosystem, rich with bacteria, fungi, insects, minerals, and organic matter, all working together.

When soil is alive, it grows more nutritious food. That food, in turn, supports human health.

Soil health influences the nutritional density of what we eat. Minerals, trace elements, and microbial activity all shape what ends up on our plates. When soils are degraded, food may look the same, but it often contains fewer nutrients.

This matters because diet is now one of the leading contributors to rising chronic illness, including metabolic disorders, inflammatory conditions, and mental health challenges. Poor soil health quietly feeds into this crisis.

By restoring living soil and regeneration, we are not just growing food. We are rebuilding the foundations of human health.

Composting and the Circular Food System

Modern food systems are linear. Food is grown, consumed, and discarded. When food waste is landfilled, nutrients are lost and methane emissions rise.

Composting restores a broken cycle.

By collecting food waste and turning it into compost, nutrients are returned to the soil instead of being lost forever. This is what a circular food system looks like in practice. Food feeds people, waste feeds soil, soil feeds food.

This is the work at the heart of Generation Soil.

Simple Ways to Start Composting

You don’t need land, specialist knowledge, or lots of time to begin.

If you compost at home, start small. Use a kitchen caddy or countertop bin. Compost fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, and eggshells. Balance food waste with carbon materials like cardboard or woodchip.

If home composting isn’t accessible, joining a local collection allows you to turn your food waste into living compost without needing space or equipment.

Even supporting growers who prioritise healthy soil makes a difference.

The Bigger Picture: Soil, Care, and Wellbeing

Composting is not just waste management. It is a cultural intervention.

It teaches patience in a speed-driven world. Care in a disposable one. Responsibility without guilt. It reconnects people with cycles that modern life hides.

This is where wellbeing and sustainability meet. Not through perfection, but through participation.

A Quiet Invitation

Soil does not demand attention. It waits.

When we care for soil, we care for the systems that feed us, regulate our health, and sustain life. Composting is one small, powerful way to step back into relationship with those systems.

You don’t need to change everything. You just need to begin.

If you’d like to explore how Generation Soil can support you, whether through composting, education, or community projects, there is a place for you in this work.

The journey begins with a single step. Why not make it today?