Guest Commentary: The Trash Can Can

For years, I’ve been saying that Philadelphia doesn’t have a trash problem — it has a systems problem. People care about their neighborhoods. They want to live on clean, safe blocks. What they often lack is access to the simple tools that make that possible.

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Three months ago, I launched a pilot program called Ya Fav TrashCan, with the goal of placing custom-built 55-gallon steel trash cans along corridors and residential streets where litter builds up the fastest. I started small — just a handful of cans along Girard Avenue in North Philly. The idea was simple: if you make it easier for people to throw trash away properly, they will.

And that’s exactly what happened.

Since installing those first cans, my crew has collected over two tons of trash—yes, two tons—in just three months. We empty each can twice a week. That’s trash that would have otherwise blown down sidewalks, piled up on corners, or ended up in our storm drains and rivers. Instead, it’s being responsibly disposed of.

But what’s most powerful isn’t just the number of tons collected — it’s what you see and feel in these neighborhoods. The blocks with trash cans look and feel different. The energy is different. Store owners are sweeping again. Residents are taking pride in their corners. People stop us to say thank you, to ask how they can get one of our cans on their block. That’s the kind of community shift you can’t always measure in data — it’s something you can see in people’s eyes.

Instead of waiting for a big city contract or a complicated public-works plan, we just started — one can at a time. And the results speak for themselves.

The truth is, sometimes simple is best.

We live in a city that often overcomplicates solutions to everyday problems. We spend months on studies, committees, and reports when sometimes the answer is staring right at us. People can’t throw trash away properly if there’s no place to put it.

The Ya Fav TrashCan program is proof that when you give people an opportunity to do better, they will. We don’t need to reinvent the wheel — we just need to make it easier for Philadelphians to be part of the solution.

I also designed this program to create micro-jobs for local residents. Thanks to a grant from the state’s Keystone Community Grant, each crew member is responsible for maintaining a set of cans and earns $10 per can per day — about $400 a month for just one hour of work per week. It’s not a full-time job, but it’s steady supplemental income and, more importantly, a sense of ownership. These are people from the neighborhoods they’re helping to keep clean. That matters.

The pride they take in their work is real. They text me photos when they finish their routes. They notice when residents start using the cans more. They care about keeping those cans from overflowing because they know it reflects on them and their community.

What we’re seeing through Ya Fav TrashCan is the power of localized accountability and opportunity. Instead of waiting for a big city contract or a complicated public-works plan, we just started — one can at a time. And the results speak for themselves.

My vision is to expand from these few pilot cans to 50 more placed strategically across Philadelphia, especially in high-foot-traffic residential areas that have been historically underserved and bombarded with litter. I’m talking about bus stops, school routes, and corner stores — places where people gather every day but often don’t have access to a single public trash can.

I’m not naïve enough to think a trash can alone can fix everything. We still need citywide education around litter prevention, stronger enforcement for illegal dumping, and equitable funding for sanitation infrastructure. But if we can make a visible impact with just a few cans and a handful of community members, imagine what we can do with 50. Or 100.

At its core, Ya Fav TrashCan isn’t just about trash—it’s about dignity. It’s about giving people the chance to take pride in where they live. It’s about proving that the same blocks people write off as “dirty” are full of residents who care deeply — they just need someone to invest in them.

Every bag we collect represents more than waste removed — it represents a small victory for a city that too often feels overlooked and undervalued. It’s a reminder that Philadelphia can be both gritty and clean, both tough and beautiful.

And maybe, just maybe, it’s a reminder that we don’t always need million-dollar solutions to million-dollar problems. Sometimes, all it takes is a $10 job and a trash can on the corner.

That’s what I’m fighting for — one block, one bag, one can at a time.

Terrill Haigler, Ya Fav Trashman, is a former Philly sanitation worker with a serious gift for organizing and employing social media and direct action to mobilize an impactful movement to clean up our city. As a change-maker dedicated to making Philadelphia the best version of itself, Haigler is also a member of “Generation Change Philly,” a partnership between The Philadelphia Citizen and the nonprofit Keepers of the Commons.

The Citizen welcomes guest commentary from community members who represent that it is their own work and their own opinion based on true facts that they know firsthand.

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