Snapshot: Mazel Rubbish Removal Keeps the Rockland County Streets Clean

By David J. Glenn

So much so, that not too long after Yossie Gross started the company in 2004, other entrepreneurs followed suit, bringing a total of some 20 rubbish-removal operations in Monsey today.

"We're all doing well," Gross said. "There's enough business to go around."

Gross had been in real estate management, and at first had to find ways to remove construction garbage left after houses were built or renovated, or when people moved and couldn't or didn't want to take their furniture with them.

"The companies I had to deal with were not very reliable," he said. " So I started my own."

Gross still keeps a hand in real estate, but his main focus is on Mazel Rubbish Removal with his six employees.

Larger, out-of-town companies like 800-Got-Junk that have a strong Internet presence are not really competitive with Gross' company.  "Most of my customers don't use the Internet," he said.

It was difficult at first to gain customers, but now half of his business is from returning clients, he said.

Whatever the struggle was in the beginning, it was paled by the hardship of the Covid pandemic which started in March 2020. Business stopped, and his workers would have been without a paycheck for six months had Gross not been able to get government loans to keep up with the payroll.  

Gross plans to soon get a second truck to handle the rising demand for construction-garbage pickup.

Trash removal in general is more important than most people realize, he said."We wouldn't be able to live" if garbage weren't picked up, Gross said.

He encourages people to appreciate the workers who carry off their trash. 

"Thank your garbage man!" he said.