Within this project, a data acquisition protocol was defined for the collection and cataloguing of the different types and sizes of these wastes, based on protocols used at European level, but simplified and adapted to the local specificities identified on our Italian beaches, in the monitored locations, to allow its use by volunteers and also by high school students, thus combining the research side with the educational one.

Several data collection campaigns have been carried out over the years, especially in the Ligurian-Tuscan area (Giovacchini et al., 2018) within the Pelagos Sanctuary, with the help and the collaboration of many students, through the“working-related internship”educational paths, as well as voluntaries of non governative associations (post Locritani, 2018).

In 2018, the SeaCleaner protocol was used by the MAREVIVO association to monitor, again with the contribution of volunteers and students, various beaches in different regions of Italy (Locritani, et al., 2019). Regarding the scientific results obtained from such monitoring, the presence of a higher density of waste in Natural Areas, compared to Urban and Urbanized Areas considered, has been noted, as well as an important role of rivers in the transport of these pollutants (Giovacchini et al., 2018). Although we currently do not have a complete picture of all the beaches of the Italian peninsula, the latest data collected has however shown that there is greater pollution in the regions of Southern Italy, and in particular in Sicily (Locritani et al., 2019) compared to those monitored in Central-Northern Italy on the Tyrrhenian coast.

Over the years, SeaCleaner has made use of the collaboration of several organizations and institutes, both CNR and universities (DLTM, ENEA, CNR-IBF, CNR-IBE, IZSLT, CNR-IPCF, CNR-ICCOM, UNIPI, CNR-IGG) that have contributed to a broadening of the issues addressed, thanks to their expertise in different areas, related to the main one, i.e. marine pollution due to the increasing dispersion of anthropogenic waste, plastic ones in primis. The need to develop new methods of spatial and temporal mapping of beaches in order to identify the areas of greatest accumulation, and the importance of being able to estimate the flow of material transported by waterways, was the reason for a new line of research, in collaboration with other CNR institutes (Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica- Institute of Clinical Physiology, IFC, and Istituto per la BioEconomia-Institute of Bioeconomics, IBE) and the University of Pisa (Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra - Department of Earth Sciences and Dipartimento di Biologia - Department of Biology). The aim was to analyze the mechanism that leads to the pattern of waste accumulation, investigating the fundamental aspect of the rate of accumulation and distribution over time, also taking into account the mode of incidence of major river events such as floods, overflows and inundations. In particular, anthropogenic wastes accumulated in protected coastal areas are very difficult to reach, since they are in areas not served by roads or structures, and/or because of regulations that limit human intervention. In such a context, the use of aerial surveying by drone (or Unmanned Aerial Vehicle, UAV), today an increasingly popular tool in the system for environmental monitoring, is a valuable aid. In fact, not only it significantly increases the amount of data acquired to study coastal deposits, but it allows to limit, at the same time, further anthropogenic impact in these protected areas. These and other advantages offered by such aerial systems are particularly suitable for the study of the pattern of aggregation and distribution of waste, also in relation to the concept of repeatability over time, in order to ensure a long-term study, with frequent sampling, of a particular area, limiting the time and the involvement of human resources.

In this sense, the collaboration with the ReFly group of the IFC of the CNR has allowed to estimate, over one year, the rate of accumulation of anthropogenic waste in a stretch of beach inside the protected area of the Migliarino Massacciuccoli and San Rossore Regional Natural Park, (in the province of Pisa and located at the mouth of the river Arno) and to study the spatial and temporal distribution they undergo, also in relation to the so-called "extreme" events that may occur (Merlino et al., 2020). The research was carried out with the collaboration of the interdisciplinary group of the CNR "Win On Waste", within which researchers from different disciplines and different CNR Institutes collaborate to carry out activities to raise awareness on the issue of anthropogenic waste, its dispersion in the environment and the related issues of reuse, recycling, and proper disposal of plastic objects, trying to convey a greater knowledge of polymeric materials used today.

Thanks are also due to the associations of voluntareers that have supported this research, such as the NGO Acchiapparifiuti and Legambiente. Within the SeaCleaner project, infact, collaborations have been started with several NGPs and with many schools, in order to promote Citizen Science actions and monitoring of the marine environment, not only regarding beached litter, but also on collateral and related topics, such as biodiversity of coastal systems (Mioni et al, 2017 and 2018) or the impact of marine litter pollution on protected seabird species, in collaboration with LIPU-Italy and LPO-France (Merlino et al. 2018; Merlino & Massetti 2019). Over the years, several conventions have been activated between CNR-ISMAR and the Regional and National Parks involved in the project, which have allowed researchers to work within the protected areas (Regional Natural Park of Portovenere, Migliarino Massacciuccoli and San Rossore Regional Natural Park, Cinque Terre Park, and National Park of the Tuscan Archipelago, for the area of integral protection of the island of Pianosa). The schools involved over the years have been more than 30, each one with several classes. They were mainly secondary schools, but some middle schools also participated. Most of them belong to the province of La Spezia (ISA2, ISA 10, ISA 13, Istituto Scientifico Tecnologico Capellini Sauro, Istituto Fossati-Da Passano, Liceo linguistico Mazzini, Liceo Scientifico Pacinotti, Liceo Scientifico Parentuccelli, Classico Costa), but there were also schools from Tuscany, Emilia Romagna, Piemonte, Lombardia, in North Italy. Thanks to the collaboration with MAREVIVO NGO within the Nautici in Blu Project, also schools from southern Italy (province of Civitavecchia, Palermo, Milazzo, Messina and Taranto) have been recently involved. 

The SeaCleaner project was also given prizes and awards, such as best-practice during the First National working-related internship Convenction, held during the Salone dell’Orientamento ABCD di Genova, November 2013, with the motivation “ for having distinguished itself among the most significant experiences in this area”. A second recognition was the "nomination" that SeaCleaner received, during the International Conference HEADS 2015 (Hight Educational Advances International Meeting, Valencia, Spain, June 2015), where it was selected, together with the project "Blue Path", among the top 5 best educational projects submitted from among the 180 applicants.

Thanks to the European contribution (Researchers' Night 2014-2015 - Framework Programme H2020, MarieSkłodowska-Curie Actions), and that of the  Distretto Ligure per le Tecnologie Marine - DLTM (Ligurian Cluster for Marine Technologies) was also produced by ISMAR-CNR, in 2015, the documentary "Marine Rubbish. A Challenge to Share". Distributed by CNR WEB-TV, is currently available in italian language with subtitles in english and in french language. The short documentary was presented, by invitation, at the "Decennial of the European Researchers' Night 2015" in Brussels, selected among the best documentary within the category "Out of Competition”at the Festival CinemAmbiente di Torino, in May 2016,  selected and screened at the International Life After Oil festival di Stintino, in august 2016, and, also, in three successive screenings at Legambiente's traveling festival (festival itinerante Clorofilla).  

In 2020, it was selected from among the video contributions from research institutions and universities that were put on display at the Innovation Observatory, in the Italian pavilion destined for Expo 2020 in Dubai, and then postponed between October 1, 2021 and March 31, 2022.

The SeaCleaner project was selected among those participating in the NEWSERA project, a European project dedicated to the analysis and evaluation of strategies implemented by Citizen Science projects to engage the stakeholders that make up the so-called quadruple helix model (university, manufacturing reality, politics and ordinary citizens). 

Some of the activities carried out within SeaCleaner have included the participation of Institutes, Universities and High Schools participating in other citizen science and education projects, such as "Walking on the Tracks of the Sea" and BLUES_MED.