1st Waste Management – Waste Management service

Background

1st Waste Management is a nationwide waste solutions provider, offering fully managed services to businesses and charities across the UK.

Founded in 1999 and based in Bournemouth, they’ve spent the past 25 years building a strong network of trusted suppliers, delivering everything from general waste and recycling to food, clinical, and hazardous waste services. 

Their unique model consolidates all waste streams under one point of contact, one invoice, and one dedicated customer support team.

This streamlined approach not only makes waste management easier for their clients but also helps organisations stay compliant and reduce their environmental impact. 

While they offer full UK coverage, 1st Waste’s strongest supplier relationships and service density are in the South, making them particularly efficient in this region. 

The Challenge

Before working with YLM, 1st Waste recognised the importance of having a strong social media presence but didn’t have the in-house expertise or resources to manage it effectively.

Social media was something the team tried to fit in alongside their core responsibilities, but without a clear strategy or defined process, it was difficult to maintain consistency or direction. 

They had trialled a few campaigns, but these were based more on personal experience than on proven marketing strategies.

As a result, posts lacked structure, regularity, and purpose, making it hard to generate momentum or meaningful engagement. 

Managing social media in this way was not only time-consuming but also a source of ongoing uncertainty. 

Excellent Results

Since working with YLM, 1st Waste has experienced a complete transformation in its LinkedIn presence, from building up both company and personal profiles to delivering a consistent, high-performing content strategy that drives engagement and growth. 

In under a year, YLM helped increase 1st Waste’s business page followers by 129%, growing from 439 in July 2024 to 1,005 by July 2025. At the same time, Managing Director Richard’s personal LinkedIn network expanded by 252%, with other key team members also seeing steady growth across their profiles. 

But it wasn’t just about follower counts. Through strategic posting and ongoing performance tracking, YLM significantly increased 1st Waste’s visibility.

Posts now average over 890 impressions, with the highest-performing post reaching an incredible 5,700 impressions, a clear sign of content that resonates with their audience. Engagement has more than doubled, with interaction levels consistently growing month-on-month. 

Just as importantly, the entire process has been made simple. With YLM managing content planning, posting, and analytics, the team at 1st Waste has been able to focus on their core work, while still building a strong online presence, without the stress or time commitment of doing it in-house. 

Working with YLM

From the very beginning, 1st Waste has been impressed by the impact of working with YLM, both in terms of results and the overall experience. The team has seen far more growth in awareness, impressions, and audience engagement than expected, which has helped spark new motivation to keep their social presence active and consistent. 

One of the biggest benefits has been time; YLM’s streamlined process has taken the pressure off the 1st Waste team, making it simple and quick to send over content, while getting expert-level support in return. 

The monthly reporting has also been a welcome bonus. It’s given the team valuable insight into how their LinkedIn performance has evolved and made it easy to share progress across the business during internal meetings. 

Communication has been a standout. The 1st Waste team described YLM’s responsiveness as “next level,” praising the instant replies and clear, proactive updates.

Compared to others they’ve worked with, the support from YLM has been seamless and consistently reliable. 

Would they recommend YLM to others?

When asked if they would recommend YLM to others, 1st Waste said, “We would 100% recommend YLM to others. We’re happy with how things have gone—it’s everything we wanted from a working relationship. It’s been spot on from start to finish.

Whenever we’ve had questions, the team always had the answers, came back quickly with exactly what we needed, and solved all the challenges we had with posting and growing our accounts. We’ve achieved exactly what we set out to do.”