by Christian Mavris
C’e chi dice no – There are those who say no’. With this song, in 1987 the legendary Italian rocker Vasco Rossi stated ‘enough!’ to a superficial, taken-for-granted, almost surrendered approach to everyday life.
Beyond the pure philosophical aspect, one such issue is marine plastic pollution, a literal plague that has now reached alarming, everyday proportions.
With plastic litter visible from as far away as space – the Great Pacific Garbage Patch is perhaps the most emblematic example – and microplastic particles having been found even in human embryos, it is now well established that there is a ‘plastic problem’ that needs to be addressed.
There are those who don’t give up, and who don’t give in to a narrative that takes such problem for granted. In the case of Italy, various NGOs and private individuals, for example, are active with the noble objective of raising awareness, with perhaps different approaches and scales. And they are doing so by taking the issue of plastic pollution of coastlines and seas very seriously – in their own hands, literally.
In this overview, we introduce some of these Italian initiatives and realities, possibly less known to most people, but which are ‘rolling up their sleeves’ and take action, each in their own way.
“The sea complains upon a thousand shores” – Alexander Smith
Italy has about 8,300 km of coastline, of which about 41% (3,400 km) are beaches, according to the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research.
In such a large area, and with the problem of environmental pollution widespread in the belpaese as well, the work of the NGO Plastic Free Onlus, a reality active since 2019 in the context of raising public awareness of the problem of pollution, stands out.
In just a few years, Plastic Free has become a widely recognised institution in the field of coastal clean-up, which has “recruited” hundreds of volunteers for regular, weekly clean-ups throughout the Italian territory, with the aim of fighting plastic and microplastic pollution. An entity, Plastic Free, which operates under the auspices of both the European and Italian Parliament, the Italian Ministry of Environment and Energy Security, and the Municipality of Naples.
In terms of activities, the Italian NGO counts the participation of over 260,000 volunteers, organising more than 7,686 environmental clean-up events, plus around 3,500 awareness-raising events in schools involving almost 277,000 students. Over several years, the activities have resulted in the collection of 4,339,143 kg of plastic and miscellaneous waste, and 459 Memoranda of Understanding have been signed with local administrations. Also, on 8 March 2025, 122 Italian municipalities that excelled in the fight against illegal waste dumping were awarded in Naples.
“Today, more than ever, in a world shaken by geopolitical crises and international conflicts, it is vital not to forget the environmental emergency” notes Luca De Gaetano, President and Founder of Plastic Free. “Pollution and biodiversity loss are not stopping: instead, they continue relentlessly, accelerated by the inaction of those who should be acting.”
The fronts where the Italian NGO is fighting are many, e.g. from abandoned vehicle tires to cigarette butts, including the damage caused by pollution to wildlife, with special attention to sea turtles.
Thanks to the work of volunteers, Plastic Free says that 230 medium and large sized turtles have been rescued, and nearly 7,000 baby turtles have been escorted to hatch.
“Every year, more than 40,000 animals die due to human negligence. Our task is to rescue those in danger, take care of, heal, and release them back into the sea,” says De Gaetano.
Plastics and litter come in many different shapes and forms, and what may appear innocent and cute to humans, can be fatal to another life form.
A typical example is given by festive balloons, the fragments of which – as Plastic Free informs – make up 80% of the litter found in the stomachs of the investigated sea turtles. This is why the Italian NGO has taken action to change this.
“Since September 2022, we are asking Italian municipalities to accept our request for an ordinance banning their release into the sky.”
The result? “To date, 103 local authorities have already complied” with that decree. It should be noted that Plastic Free’s action extends beyond Italy’s national borders, since the NGO is now present in more than 30 countries around the world.
* Large volume of waste collected from cleaning action, and litter collection activity with volunteers (copyright Plastic Free) *
“The ocean is a central image. It is the symbolism of a great journey” Enya
Enzo Suma is a resident of the Puglia region, the ‘heel’ of Italy. A tourism powerhouse region, accounting for 13% of local GDP, with a wealth of 24 Blue Flag beaches for 2024 alone.
On his frequent walks, Suma very often finds bottles and various plastic items that have washed ashore on the coastal areas of his beautiful region. One day, he found the bottle of a 1960s spray tan, with the price still written in Italian Liras. It was a disheartening image that both puzzled, but also intrigued him: what was the origin of these objects? What is their journey, and what history do they have to tell us?
And so, Suma created Archeoplastica, a social media community where the found objects are presented, and users’ contributions and insights are asked.
“This is an environmental education programme that aims to raise awareness of the issue of marine pollution caused by plastics” Suma notes, “but also to promote a more conscious and responsible use of these materials, especially with regard to single-use plastics.”
With the environmental sensitivity that characterizes mostly the younger generations – Gen Z, predominantly – online participation and digital presence means a virtual zeroing of distances. Therefore, Internet users started reporting their finds from all over Italy, reconstructing their routes and stories.
The online public welcomed Suma’s initiative positively, and with a significant response. In just a few years, the community has grown a lot, since – at the time of publication – it counts around 446,000 users on Instagram, 248,000 on TikTok, and over 107,000 on Facebook.
“This is a project that tries to address the issue of plastic in a light-hearted way, leading the observer to reflect on the lifespan of plastics.” Reflect – a key word, since in general terms “we are talking about plastic waste dating from the late 1950s to the 1980s”, stresses Enzo Suma. The founder of the Archeoplastica initiative told us a very interesting story with a Greek element: that of Fino, a bottle of honey of Greek origin found after a winter sea storm on a beach in Salento.
“Initially (the bottle) seemed to depict a clown, but later we discovered that it was a Pierrot-type figure. The only original clue was the name ‘Kazaplast’ engraved at the base of the bottle, which can be attributed to a Greek company that specialized in producing toys and canisters for other companies. This confirmed us that the bottle was made in Greece,” Suma recounts.
Although the sea distance between the two countries is less than 115 kilometres, it seems that the bottle ‘travelled’ quite a bit before reaching the Italian shores.
The role of social media has been crucial. “The mystery was resolved thanks to Francesca’s intuition, one of our Instagram followers, who noticed the similarity between the character Fino and our bottle. After this, we were able to track down a video of the company in which this exact container appears” concludes Suma.
“We now know with certainty that the depicted character is Fino, the little boy who has appeared on the ‘Attica’ company’s honey jars since the 1950s. This bottle did indeed contain honey, as confirmed directly by the Greek company, which showed us the original container used between 1960 and 1969 in Greece,” Suma notes.
Archeoplastica’s goal is to create a virtual museum, something that has already begun as a recording and 3D visualization through photogrammetry and then published on the website, but also the realization of traveling exhibitions with plastic objects found on beaches.
Enzo Suma himself also held a thematic exhibition of various finds in Puglia, and it is expected that exhibitions will continue outside Italy. As for the exact number of objects, Suma told us that “there are now hundreds of objects” – over 500, according to the website – and stresses that “only the most emblematic and interesting of the project are exhibited”.
* Above: Finos, the plastic honey bottle of the Greek company ‘Attiki’, which dates back to the 1960s-1969 and was found on the coast of Apulia.
Below: plastic finds in a thematic exhibition. (copyright Archeoplastica)*
“We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one” Jacques Yves Cousteau
Gondolas and canals, cappuccinos and spritz, romantic walks through the alleys (calli). A unique beauty and charm that captivates the tourist, at every corner. These, and much more, is Venice, a magnet city for millions of tourists – up to 37 million a year, the numbers until the Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. A noteworthy mass of visitors, let alone for a city with only 50,000 permanent residents.
As is well known, the UNESCO member city is located in a highly vulnerable and complex ecosystem with wildlife and tides. If the construction of the MOSE, an original structure consisting of 78 mobile artificial dams, has for some years now been saving Venice from the chronic, major problem of acqua alta, the high sea levels, the lagoon is also largely threatened by pollution.
On the one hand, tourism is an important resource for the Venetians. On the other hand, over-tourism is a threat, since it generates an enormous amount of waste, the lion’s share of which is plastic.
Proof of this, a study which shows that, following the sudden cessation of tourism due to travel restrictions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, there was a significant drop in the number of microcontaminants found in Venice’s canals. The presence of plastic microparticles also depends on tourism – even if they are not visible to the naked eye.
The love for their place, and the belief that something had to be done to address these problems, motivated professionals like Gerardo Toso and Davide Poletto to create the NGO Venice Lagoon Plastic Free.
In recent years, people have been talking about the Anthropocene, a time epoch characterised by the significant impact of humans on Earth and interfering with what should be natural phenomena. A walk on the barene, the islands created by the fluctuations of the tides and the transported sediments, confirms this disturbing trend.
In a video of the NGO, available on their website, the vice-president, Gerardo Toso, can be seen walking on a superficially natural islet between Burano and Torcello, but with every step a creaking sound can be heard. Toso stops. Beneath a layer of plants lies another, more insidious one, consisting largely of plastic bottles.
Venice Lagoon Plastic Free is very active, and in recent years has been the recipient of 4 European Horizon-type projects to monitor water and pollution in the lagoon, and to raise awareness in the broader community.
One project that intrigued us is called Ghost Boats, and as the name suggests, aims to locate and remove abandoned boats and craft across the lagoon. Poletto explains that they developed “a first version of an app that allowed us to locate and collect these boats.” The boats are then taken to a company that the NGO works with – Gees Recycling.
Giorgio Betteto, Technical Head of the Research and Development Sector of the above company, explains that “the problem with boats, and other types of waste of this type abandoned in lagoons and rivers, is that these are objects that, in the event of exceptional events, can cause very significant damage”.
In addition to collecting the boats from the lagoon, the partnership between the NGO and the company aims to go one step further: to give a second life to the materials collected in the lagoon through innovative and responsible recycling.
And so, Gees Recycling started experimenting with the production of panels of different uses, with the main materials being the components of abandoned boats.
“The biggest problem is to be able to create something that can be sold, i.e. ‘products’ from waste,” Betteto explains, from materials “that have important, positive characteristics, and that during the recycling process not only do not create further pollution, but also reduce the environmental impact.”
The Venice lagoon is a vulnerable, special case in many aspects. In addition to saving the lagoon itself, the cleaning and second life of abandoned materials can be an open laboratory-example for the application of good practices in other parts of the world.
This is confirmed by Betteto, since the problem of such pollution “is widespread at least throughout Europe. We are receiving many requests for similar initiatives to be taken in the UK and France”.
*The Ghost Boats programme aims to identify and remove abandoned boats and crafts throughout the lagoon. Copyright VLPF*