How It Works

From Food Waste to Living Soil in Bristol

Generation Soil CIC is building a circular food system for Bristol. One that turns food waste into living compost, restores soil health, grows nutritious food, and brings communities back into relationship with the land beneath their feet.

This page explains how it works, why it matters, and how you can take part.

Creating circular food systems IN BRISTOL

In nature, waste does not exist. One organism’s leftovers become another’s food.

Generation Soil Circular Food System diagram

At Generation Soil, we recreate this natural cycle at a local, community scale. Bristol’s food waste becomes living compost, and that compost feeds gardens, growing spaces, and our two-acre food forest market garden.

A circular food system works the same way. Food scraps are not discarded, they are returned to the soil as organic matter, nutrients, and beneficial microorganisms that grow more food.

Food Waste Collection

We provide Bristol households and businesses with sealable buckets and bokashi bran flakes.

Food waste is added to the bucket and layered with bokashi bran, which ferments the waste rather than letting it rot. This fermentation process:

✅ prevents smells

✅ preserves nutrients

✅ introduces beneficial microorganisms early

Once your bucket is full, we collect it and swap it for a clean one. Simple, hygienic, and accessible.

This is the first step in closing Bristol’s food waste loop.

TRANSFORMING FOOD WASTE INTO LIVING SOIL

Collected food waste is processed at our local composting hub using a three-stage system designed to be fast, safe, and biologically rich.

Stage One: Fermentation

Your food waste arrives already fermented thanks to bokashi. This anaerobic process breaks food down gently and creates the ideal conditions for beneficial bacteria to thrive.

Stage Two: In-Vessel Composting

The fermented food waste is mixed with carbon-rich materials such as wood shavings and biochar, then placed into in-vessel composting units. These units:

✅ prevent pests

✅ maintain airflow

✅ reach high temperatures even in winter

This stage ensures pathogens are destroyed while beneficial microbes multiply.

Stage Three: Compost Maturation

The compost is left to mature, allowing pH levels to balance and additional life to move in. Worms, fungi, and diverse microorganisms finish the process, turning waste into stable, living compost.

This three-stage system reduces composting time from over a year to around three months, without sacrificing quality.

What Is Living Soil?

Living soil is not just dirt. It is a complex, living ecosystem.

A single teaspoon of healthy soil can contain over ten billion microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes, and more. Together, they form the soil food web.

These organisms:

✅ make minerals available to plants

✅ build soil structure

✅ reduce compaction

✅ improve water infiltration and retention

✅ help protect against flooding and drought

Around 95 percent of our food depends on these microscopic workers. When soils are degraded, food quality and ecosystem health suffer. When soils are regenerated, everything above ground benefits.

Our compost is designed to restore this living system.

Returning Compost to the Community

Once mature, our living compost is:

✅ returned to members to enrich gardens and growing spaces

✅ used to restore soils across Bristol

✅ applied at our two-acre food forest market garden

This keeps nutrients local and ensures food waste benefits the communities it comes from.

Buying compost or joining our collection service directly supports soil regeneration in Bristol.

A Handful of Generation Soil Living Compost made from Bristol Food Waste.

BRISTOL FOOD FOREST: REGENERATION IN PRACTICE

Our two-acre food forest market garden at Leigh Woods Meadows is a living demonstration of circular food systems in action.

Here, compost made from Bristol’s food waste is used to:

✅ restore compacted farmland

✅ improve soil structure and fertility

✅ grow nutrient-dense food

✅ increase biodiversity through agroforestry

The food forest is both a productive growing space and a living classroom. It shows what becomes possible when waste is treated as a resource and soil is given time to recover.

Visitors can see, touch, and learn from regeneration happening in real time.

Connecting Composting to Community Action

Composting is not just a waste solution. It is a social one.

Our compost hubs, collections, and growing spaces bring people together around shared responsibility for soil, food, and place. Through this work, neighbours connect, skills are shared, and local resilience grows.

Community composting turns everyday actions into collective impact.