A formal association to represent scrap metal recyclers could have averted the export ban and ensuing economic hardship on thousands, according to a sector entrepreneur.

Ronny Etienne, owner of scrap metal trading firm Ronny's Auto, told Guardian Business yesterday that the lucrative industry has experienced participants who know just where the focus should be to address theft issues and effectively regulate the industry.  It's been a 'free-for-all' in the industry, with greed on the buyer side fueling scrap metal theft he said, a situation an association would have addressed.

"There is no formal body [representing us] - I don't know if they would have one now, seeing that we are under fire," Etienne said.  "If there was one I don't think we would have been where we are now, at a stop on this business.  It never would have gotten that far.

"If it was regularized with an association, people like me could give our input.  And I've been around," noted Etienne, who said he has seen the industry up close in many Caribbean nations, including Jamaica, Barbados and the Dominican Republic.

Etienne said the industry is overdue for proper regulations, but the ban recently put in place will be financially debilitating to what he estimated are thousands of Bahamians on the supply-side of the business.  He said he was not even aware of the number of people on the buying side until yesterday's meeting with the Minister of the Environment Earl Deveaux - where he was told there was strong representation from scores of buyers, though many of what he called the 'top ten', were not in attendance.

The industry, which Etienne said has 'blown up' over the last eight to ten years, attracts many to source and sell scrap metals.  The business represents a primary or exclusive source of income for many of these sellers, he said.

"Compared to the construction industry the guys can make a week's salary in a couple hours.  The sellers right now - that's a big number, in the thousands -- they rely on that income," Etienne said.

"A guy can make up to $1,000 a day with a small truck, once he can find the materials."

From Etienne's perspective, however, to effect a reduction in metal theft it is the buyers who must be reigned-in.

"It's greed," Etienne said.  The more metals buyers can accumulate for a shipment, the better the margins they make, he said.  According to Etienne, he understands the pain government corporations and utilities, businesses and private citizens have endured with the theft of their materials for the scrap metal trade.  He reported a personal incident where an associate had all of the newly laid wiring ripped from her house construction project to feed the scrap metal demand.

"I blame the guys who buy this stuff.  I blame them," Etienne said.

Proper regulation of both prices paid for scrap materials, and certification of the source of materials were key, according to the expert.  He explained that someone with a questionable cache of metals could shop around until he found a buyer offering a suitable price.

If someone had, for example, a manhole cover or sign post to sell (real examples), he could pick up the phone and shop it around until he found a local buyer for it, prior to the ban.

"You know how it goes," said Etienne.  "It's a free-for-all until the government intervenes."

The sellers are 'just trying to make a dollar' according to Etienne, and are being facilitated and encouraged through the acceptance of their materials from unscrupulous buyers.  For now, he said, in the interest of those 'thousands' the 90-day export ban must be reconsidered.

"They want the ban to be lifted before the 90 days," he said.  "They don't' mind the copper not going out, they just want the aluminum, iron, steel and stuff like that.

"There are guys that brought trailers from Eleuthera, Andros and other islands that are sitting on the dock.  They are in the hole for freight costs, the money for the people working with them, plus their investment.

"That 90-day ban will stop a lot of people from eating."

The government announced the 90-day ban on the export of scrap metal and copper effective July 27, and held a meeting on August 2nd to agree to a process of certification to permit and accommodate the legitimate trade in scrap metals.  Losses to the government and related agencies as a result of illegitimate scrap metal recovery include ZNS' broadcast capacity to the southern Bahamas for up to a month, BEC losing some generator activity, and the loss of manhole covers by the Water and Sewerage Corporation.

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