THE GEOGRAPHY OF ILLUSION: CITIZEN PARTICIPATION AND SYMBOLIC PROBLEM-SOLVING IN ALBANIA'S WASTE MANAGEMENT

This paper critically examines Albania's urban waste management strategy from 2014 to 2025, which controversially prioritized incineration over the European Union's waste hierarchy.Through the analytical lenses of a "geography of illusion" and "symbolic problem-solving," the study reveals how political expediency and a systemic exclusion of genuine citizen participation fostered seemingly quick fixes rather than sustainable environmental outcomes.Drawing extensively on the European Commission's Progress Reports on Albania (2010-2025), the analysis demonstrates a consistent pattern of external critique, highlighting significant policy misalignment, pervasive governance failures, and explicit corruption cases linked to the incineration projects.This approach has resulted in severe environmental and economic burdens, an erosion of public trust, and the international repercussions of problem displacement.The paper concludes that Albania's incineration-first policy constituted a profound deviation from EU principles, underscoring the urgent need for a fundamental shift towards transparent, genuinely participatory, and sustainably aligned waste management practices to fulfill its EU accession aspirations.