‘Ya Fav Trashman’ announces run for Philadelphia City Council

Community activist and social media celebrity Terrill Haigler, also known as Ya Fav Trashman, announced his candidacy for Philadelphia City Council At-Large during a community cleanup to honor his 33^rd birthday.

The cleanup took place Sept. 3 at 10 a.m. on the 900 block of Carlisle Street in Philadelphia where he grew up.

Haigler made a name for himself on social media creating awareness of a shortage of personal protective equipment during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Haigler stayed off the streets from an early age because his mother and grandmother signed him up for a variety of free activities to keep him busy. Thanks to his mother, he discovered a love of dance and theater, which led him to attend The Philadelphia High School for Performing Arts, where he focused on dance and other forms of performing arts.

After settling down and having three children, Haigler began working as a sanitation worker for the city of Philadelphia in December 2019. As the pandemic spread throughout the world during the spring of 2020, he realized he needed to take to social media to create awareness and inspire change. He was successful and quickly became a social media celebrity, attracting many followers, which led to him speak at The White House and be featured in the national media.

Since leaving his job as a Philadelphia sanitation worker to launch his own hauling company last February, Ya Fav Hauling, Haigler has cleaned up nearly 500 tons of trash around Philadelphia and published his first children’s book—“I’m Cool Too,”—which he is using as a tool to raise $1 million for The School District of Philadelphia.

Through the impact Haigler has made as Ya Fav Trashman, he says he feels the next step is to become a council member so he can help Philadelphia on a larger scale.

“People with my background and my perspective need to be represented at the table of decision makers,” he says. “I feel that the everyday Philadelphians don’t have a voice that is being heard when critical decisions are being made for their way of life in this city. My goal is to become the working voice for everyday Philadelphians on City Council.”