How Thomas Cabanaw Turned Garbage into Entertainment

To most people, picking up garbage for a living doesn’t sound like a fulfilling career, but that doesn’t mean you can’t turn trash into treasure. With nearly 10,000 followers on TikTok, Thomas Cabanaw has turned the unattractive task of loading waste into a truck into something people are excited to watch every day. He and his garbage “family” have built a strong community helping reshape the image of a garbageman.  

Growing up in Windsor, Ontario, Cabanaw didn’t have the typical aspirations of the average kid. In fact, where he is now is where he envisioned himself as a child.  

“Ever since I saw a guy drive by on the side of a garbage truck when I was a little kid, I was like yeah that’s something I think I could do, I’ve always wanted to do it,” says Cabanaw.  

Although he always wanted to be a garbageman, it took him until the age of 42 to get there. He was a roofer for 12 years and worked at container recycling company Green Processing for four years. The Green Processing job somewhat satisfied his dream of being in the waste industry, but hanging off the truck was always the number one goal.  

He never knew how to become a garbageman until he finally decided to try last year. It turned out to be much simpler than he thought.  

“I just wasn’t able to find a way to get into it, but I just happened to make a phone call one day and boom, I’m actually doing what I wanted to do,” says Cabanaw.  

So, 16 years after he started his roofing job, he fulfilled his childhood dream of being on a garbage truck, landing a job with GFL Environmental and he didn’t stop there. To make the job even more satisfying for himself, he took inspiration from some other people he’d been watching online.  

TikTok is a unique platform that provides creators with an avenue to post anything you could possibly think of. Cabanaw had been a TikTok user before he started posting on his account so when he came across other garbagemen posting about their job, he decided to give it a shot.  

“I actually watched TikTok beforehand and I saw there was a garbage community out there, so I decided to jump on and join them,” says Cabanaw.  

What originally was a simple hobby to spice up the long days picking up garbage turned into a source of enjoyment for both Cabanaw and almost 10,000 people.  

His page, Garbageman Thomas, includes short videos showing the process of dumping garbage into the truck, videos reacting to other garbage-related content and daily livestreams from the back of the truck. Videos typically get around one to two thousand views, with a few cracking 100,000 and his biggest video eclipsing 800,000 views.  

“I didn’t expect to get the return I was getting but there are a lot of people who appreciate what we do,” says Cabanaw.  

A big reason for his enjoyment of doing TikTok comes from the community he has been able to join and help build. When he started doing these videos, others who make the same kind of content welcomed him in with open arms. In somewhat of a full circle moment, he has been able to serve as an inspiration for creators that came after him.  

Some people who took an interest in what he does became part of the community by interacting with his posts and eventually, they built a comradery. Cabanaw loved the fact people wanted to follow in his footsteps, so he decided to help one of them out on his journey.  

“There’s a gentleman I follow that I have sent equipment to for him to do videos as well. I pushed him to do better content and other people have joined in on that,” says Cabanaw.  

The person in question, Garbageman Ginger, has gotten his page to 12,000 followers with Cabanaw’s help.  

“It was great to find like-minded people that do the same job I have and are interested as well,” says Cabanaw.   

Along with the entertainment aspect of running the page, it has also helped him become more knowledgeable about the process of waste management, something he aims to teach his audience about.  

“I am able to touch base with a lot of people from all over, so just talking about how different countries deal with their sanitation is very interesting,” says Cabanaw.  

Just as things were starting to take off, an unfortunate event occurred. While performing a routine garbage pickup, Cabanaw stepped on a curb the wrong way, breaking his leg.  

“It was May 31st, 2023. It was a very hot day, first hot day of the season,” says Cabanaw.  

“Honestly I just blinked and it happened,” says Cabanaw. “That’s the best way I can describe it because everything was going great. I exited the truck properly, received the bins properly, returned the bins properly and just happened to turn around, roll my ankle and have to catch myself with my right leg and my right leg said we’re taking a break, literally.” 

This meant Cabanaw had to go on leave from GFL and as a result, stop the videos from the back of the truck. His content pivoted to almost strictly reacting to other TikToks, both garbage related and other comedy videos. He kept on doing livestreams talking to his audience and would sometimes have guests on that he built an online friendship with.  

He still received a good amount of support from his followers but since he wasn’t able to do the style of videos which brought him the most attention, the views on his videos started to slip.  

“I do notice the video views and stuff like that without me being out there filming new stuff on my truck have slowed down, but having the community I have I can use their videos to duet, stitch, comment on and repost so the more I contribute to them, they contribute to me,” says Cabanaw.  

“But with my recovery and me going back to work, I think things will start going back up,” he adds. 

Cabanaw is due to start working on the truck again in the near future and he hopes to continue to do what has become the mantra of his page, keeping TikTok trashy.