About Trinidad And Tobago
Scrap Iron Dealers
Association

The impetus for the development of the Industry came after the first oil boom impacted this country (1978-1984)

The end of the Arab/Israeli war in 1984 was the beginning of high oil prices worldwide and the discovery of Natural Gas in deep-water drilling to expand our capacity to feed the Petrotrin refinery with higher volumes of crude.

One of the results was an unprecedented improvement in the quality of life of our citizens.  Consumer spending was on the rise, importation of goods from developed countries became a phenomenon, commercial structures and housing developments mushroomed, and the quantum of discarded appliances and vehicles on our roads soared astronomically.

By the mid-nineteen nineties, scrap material was evident almost everywhere.  Our watercourses, secondary roads, and unoccupied land spaces became littered with scrap.  The need to rid our environment of scrap material and waste generated, therefore, became an urgency.

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The Scrap Iron Industry in Trinidad and Tobago began with a few small dealers in the business of collecting and sorting scrap iron to be sold to the Local Steel Mill. As time passed and due to the Mill's unfavourable prices, dealers got together and formed what is now the Trinidad and Tobago Scrap Iron Dealers Association (TTSIDA).

The eventual closing of the Local Mill forced dealers to seek out foreign markets.

Salvaging and Recycling had proved to be high-income and attractive business ventures.  However, those already involved, of necessity, had to upgrade if the new supply and the demand for space had to be met.

The Trinidad and Tobago Scrap Iron market was, at first, disorganized.  However, Mr Allan Ferguson went about the business of lending order to the Industry after becoming President of TTSIDA while developing his business enterprise.  As a result, scrap yards and Recycling houses flourished; scrap yards increased from 3 - 4 dozen to 125 in Trinidad and Tobago, a country of 1.3 million people.  Currently, the Trinidad and Tobago Scrap Iron Dealers Association (TTSIDA) is responsible for shipping hundreds of containers – loads of material to foreign countries weekly.