Bristol Living Soil

Aim

Bristol Living Soil is a new community composting & soil regeneration project - collecting food waste to regenerate our soils and community

BRISTOL LIVING SOIL
Bristol Living Soil is a new community composting and soil regeneration project - collecting food waste via bicycle & electric trike, and turning it into beautiful living soil!  The project is being led by four friends who want to improve soil health and build more participation in restoring our soils.  It is being supported by Coexist and the Transition Network, but we also need your help!

THE VISION
Bristol Living Soil is the city’s first compost collective - a commons whose members participate in creating biologically complete, nutrient rich living soil.  The project intends to seed compost collectives all over Bristol as part of a wider vision for a city-wide network of human-scale community composting projects.  

Initially the project will serve St. Agnes, St. Werburghs, St. Pauls and Easton, but then spread further afield across Bristol.  Collectively, we will begin to regenerate our soils, our communities and our bio-regions. Collectively we will sequester carbon, locking it into the our soil, prevent methane from entering the atmosphere (25 times more potent at locking in heat to the atmosphere than carbon), and bring life back to Bristol's eroded soils.

The project seeks to enable people to become part of the regenerative movement we need to sustain life - giving back richer, healthier soils to the next generation than the condition in which it came to us.  We want to be as inclusive and accessible as possible, so there will always be free memberships for low-income households and for people from marginalised backgrounds.

Our aim is to grow a city-wide network of integrated compost collectives. This efficient and decentralised model will create living wage jobs, sequester carbon, increase knowledge and awareness around soils in our communities and support the growth of local, tasty, nutrient-rich food!

BACKGROUND

Inspired by Old Tree Living Soil in Brighton, and following our successful online event Composting to Heal the Earth, we decided to launch a Bristol version!  Following the Old Tree model, within one year we will have established a sustainable, generative community-interest business - one that provides a restorative alternative to the municipal, high-carbon food waste collection.

WHO ARE WE?

Danny is an activist / facilitator / community organiser, and has been working in the field of social and ecological justice for a looooong time!  He has a beard, loves soil and hates raisins (don't ask).

Lara is an artist and researcher making work about magic and finance.  Yes you read that right!  She loves food, sunshine and is most excited my low-tech solutions and relearning forgotten skills.

Rosie is Bristol born and bred.  After time away in Brighton where she did a degree in 3D Design and Craft and worked for Old Tree Soil, she is back in the West Country studying on the Shift Bristol Permaculture Design Course. She has experience composting and running different elements of the project already.

Sam is new to Bristol but familiar with soil!  He is a bit of a whizz when it comes to moss - in fact, he is a moss expert!  Sam came to the project to support its growth and has just scored a job as an Environmental Consultant!

We are all volunteering our time to launch the project, but our membership model will enable part-time work each week, and (if successful) will eventually lead to providing full-time employment.

The project is being seeded by Coexist (who started and ran Hamilton House for over 10 years) and supported by Transition Network.

WHAT WILL THE MONEY COVER?

In order to launch the project we require £15,000.  This will cover the costs of:

• RIDAN Compost Tumblers
• Collection Buckets
• Tools
• The Compost Shelter (including labour)
• Marketing & Promotion costs
• Bicycle Trailer
• Bocashi (to keep food waste from smelling)
• Developing the Website & Membership Platform
• Insurance
• Joining the Mycilium Network
• Educational Workshops led by Soil Experts

This project successfully funded on 10th September 2023