Waste Trade and The Role of NGOs

Abstract: This study seeks to understand the role of non-state actors, particularly NGOs, in global environmental governance by spotlighting the EU’s policies on waste trade. To understand the role of NGOs in waste trade, the study traces the waste trade problematisation of the EU and discovers NGOs' strategies and frames to influence the policies of the EU on waste trade. The study uses mixed methods with the help of constructivist and post-structuralist approaches. According to the study, the EU historically approaches the waste trade as an environmental subject outside of the EU with the contribution of NGOs. On the other hand, changes in the global waste trade scene are shifting the EU’s waste trade problematisations within the EU as an economic dependency problem. In this context, by taking a dialogue builder and voice articulator role and creating alliances, NGOs try to change the EU's this two-way approach.  They work to create a global environmental problem understanding for waste trade using mixed frames, which contain both technical and political frames.