Garbage is being picked up along Main Street in the City of Paterson piece by piece – part of the city's new effort to keep the streets clean and litter free.

It's called "Paterson is Picking Up." City officials say the initiative is modeled off a similar cleanup effort in Texas.

It's funded by the Paterson Urban Enterprise Zone and aims to boost the cleanliness of commercial corridors across all six wards.

Business owner Raed Odeh says ever since they started, he's noticed a difference on the streets.

“It's great. It's making us look more cleaner and it's also making us look better for all the consumers and visitors that come from elsewhere," said Odeh, the owner of Palestine Hair Salon.

The initiative is a part of the Clean Commercial Corridor Program, in which an outside company was hired to clean the city’s streets six days a week – tackling a total of 69 blocks throughout the city.

In addition to the cleanup crews, the city has also purchased and installed 90 solar power trash cans, which hold twice the amount of a normal garbage. They also send a signal to the city's DPW department letting them know when they need to be emptied.

"Keeping any community clean is a constant battle and were fighting every day. We are taking a multiprong approach here in Paterson to ensure to our residents that the streets will be clean," said Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh.

"We're really feeling very good seeing all these people coming and cleaning the sidewalk and hopefully this will continue on for the next few years to come," said Odeh.

City officials also say the next phase will be to hire off duty police officers to patrol the streets.