diff --git a/src/structables/routes/proxy.py b/src/structables/routes/proxy.py
index 004e21d..fe0741c 100644
--- a/src/structables/routes/proxy.py
+++ b/src/structables/routes/proxy.py
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ import hashlib
 import time
 import threading
 import shutil
+import random
 
 logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
 
@@ -215,6 +216,13 @@ def init_proxy_routes(app):
 
         logger.debug(f"Proxy request for URL: {url}, filename: {filename}")
 
+        # Check if the cache cleanup thread is running
+        if cache_cleanup_thread is None:
+            # Use every 100th request to trigger cleanup
+            if random.randint(1, 100) == 1:
+                logger.debug("Triggering cache cleanup")
+                cache_cleanup(app)
+
         if url is not None:
             if url.startswith("https://cdn.instructables.com/") or url.startswith(
                 "https://content.instructables.com/"