AUSTIN (KXAN) — A Facebook post Michael Hartel wrote Saturday now has nearly 10,000 likes and 2,500 shares. He said, “I was so sick of seeing this trash under the bridge by my house! Today, I decided to do something about it.”

READ MORE: Austin trying to find the best way to clean up homeless camps

This all began, Hartel said, when he saw Antione Baker.

Baker said, he drove by the intersection of U.S. 183 and Cameron Road in north Austin, and “made a U-turn right here and happen to look over, and I said to myself, I’m going to buy a broom and some bags, and I’m going to clean up this place.”

So, that’s what he did. “This is my city, so why not do something for my city,” he said.

Hartel saw Baker out there with a broom, and he said he “just went straight home, grabbed my own supplies and came back.”

The two spent a couple of hours picking up all the trash.

Hartel told KXAN, “Over the last couple of months, there have been tons of trash accumulating here that trash piles kept growing and growing and growing.” He said he noticed the problem worsened after the city decriminalized homeless camping in most public places.

“Austin’s a really beautiful place, and we can’t just let a city ordinance ruin that,” he said.

The City of Austin has been running pilot programs to clean up homeless camps and encourage people to pick up their own trash.

The violet bag program began in July. The city put out about 1,700 trash bags over several weeks, so people who are homeless can clean up their area. Then the city collected the garbage once a week.

The testing areas included:

Packsaddle Pass and Highway 71

Cameron Rd. and Hwy 183

Ohlen Rd. and Hwy 183

Cesar Chavez St. and Interstate 35

Now piloting a site at Pleasant Valley Rd. and Cesar Chavez St.

City officials said they’re in the second phase of the pilot program and “will make recommendations to scale the project after the second phase concludes.”

Baker said, he wishes the city could pick up the garbage more often, and he would like the pilot to become a permanent program.

Hartel added, “I’m not sure of all the resources the city has and where they’re putting them right now, but it’s not enough.”

Since Baker and Hartel wrote about what they did, they said some people are reaching out, wanting to help with their next cleanup. Others are organizing their own cleanups in their neighborhoods.

They said if you’d like to help, you can send a message through here.