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. 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. Many sustainable consumption practices were driven more by resilience—reducing risk and saving money—than by environmental values. 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. Overall, consumer behaviour in Albania is shaped by a combination of practical constraints, trust in systems, and varying levels of knowledge about sustainability.