Why cannot I collect resources in wasteland. I cannot add adjacent tiles?

If you are getting a message about adjacent tiles then I believe you are in a doomsday event. You need to occupy the tainted resource tiles but can only occupy ones that are next you your own tiles (green), your alliance members tiles (blue) or next to the alliance centers / honor structures. Find your alliances center 1 on the map and look for tiles around there to take.