Ya Fav Trashman Terrill Haigler Announces Run for City Council

Community activist and social media sensation Terrill Haigler, AKA 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 on Saturday, September 3^rd at 10 a.m. on the 900 Block of Carlisle Street (between Poplar and Cambridge Streets) in Philadelphia.

Haigler, who grew up on that very block, was kept off the streets at an early age when his mom and grandmother signed him up for a variety of free activities to keep him busy. Thanks to his mom, Haigler discovered a love of dance and theater, which led him to attending CAPA (Philadelphia High School for Performing Arts), providing him with what is considered one of the best educational paths in the region, 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 of 2019. As the COVID19 pandemic spread throughout the world during the spring of 2020, Haigler realized that sanitation workers had little PPE equipment to protect themselves while collecting trash and witnessing rampant illegal dumping throughout the city. It was then that he realized he needed to take to social media to create awareness and inspire change. He was hugely successful, and became a social media sensation practically overnight, while attracting hordes of followers, which lead to him speaking at the White House and being profiled throughout the region and being featured on the TODAY Show, Good Morning America, and World News Tonight.

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, has been recognized as a “Changemaker” by Waste360 Magazine, and published his first children’s book — I’m Cool Too, which he is using as a tool to raise $1 million for Philadelphia public schools.

Through the impact Haigler has made as Ya Fav Trashman, he feels the next step is to become a councilmember and impact Philadelphia on a larger scale. “People with my background and my perspective need to be represented at the table of decision makers. I feel that the everyday Philadelphian 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” said Haigler. 

Learn more at https://yafavtrashman.com.