Between 2024 and 2025, Albanian consumer confidence faced significant challenges due to a series of high-profile food safety incidents, domestic fraud, and controversies in waste management. Reports of Albanian agricultural exports being rejected in Europe for pesticide residues or heavy metals, cases of expired food being relabeled and resold domestically, and Salmonella contamination in imported frozen chicken shaped public perceptions of food safety and trust in labels and retail controls. In parallel, Albania’s waste management system remained limited to collection and dumping, with pilot recycling projects failing to scale and corruption scandals surrounding incinerator contracts undermining trust in public services.
These incidents influenced consumer behaviour and attitudes toward sustainability. Many sustainable consumption practices were driven more by resilience—reducing risk and saving money—than by environmental values. Trust emerged as a central factor in shaping responses to sustainability claims, labels, and enforcement mechanisms, while the availability and credibility of public services, such as waste collection, strongly affected whether stated willingness translated into actual behaviour.
The study, conducted as part of UNDP Albania’s Business4SDGs project, surveyed urban consumers to assess awareness and understanding of sustainability concepts, purchasing drivers, trust factors, waste practices, and willingness to pay for greener products. Findings showed that while the idea of environmentally friendly products is present in public consciousness, understanding is uneven: many respondents associated it with practical cues like recycling, organic products, or health and safety, but a significant share, especially older and less-educated consumers, could not provide any association. Overall, consumer behaviour in Albania is shaped by a combination of practical constraints, trust in systems, and varying levels of knowledge about sustainability.
