On April 17, 1983, there was its first successful initiative, the “ Clean Salento ” operation, the removal of a huge amount of waste in the newly established Cesine Naturalistic Oasis in Vernole (LE). The Municipality of Vernole had provided around 400 ecological bags; the Forestry Corps made available its own vehicles for transport and storage in points convenient for collection and subsequent disposal. From that moment on, every year there were dozens of interventions by ARCA volunteers in favor of cleaning public and private spaces. From May 1983 there was a crescendo of initiatives and collaborations that initially spread throughout the province of Lecce, in particular in the most neighbouring municipalities: Santa Maria di Leuca, Botrugno, Caprarica, Melendugno, Soleto, Martano, Otranto, Castrignano, Vernole and Calimera, and then gradually throughout all the provinces of Salento. A key role in this first phase was played by the spontaneous availability of many Civil Protection units, in particular Soleto, together with the CFS station commands.

In December 1985 there was a cultural twinning between Calimera (LE) and the city of Pompei (NA) with the inauguration of an exhibition entitled “Ornithology and Environment” in favor of the redevelopment of the Sarno Valley and its river which was seriously polluted at the time. The exhibition was a great success in terms of public attendance but above all of school children of all levels and grades. It was such a success that 2 extensions were necessary.
The activity continued to grow and diversify over the years, thanks to the constant increase in volunteers who soon learned to interact with each other, but the important thing was that between the youngest and oldest pensioners, a familiar relationship of exchange of knowledge and experiences grew. Over time, many university professors from all over Italy approached and became an active force. A significant part were members of the IREDA Institute of Environmental Research and Education. Thanks to its esteemed president Prof. Elio Abatino, ARCA over the years achieved important collaborations as well as twinning. We soon realized that other national associations began to appropriate merits that were certainly not relevant to them, not only that, strong in their recognition, they cloned some of our initiatives also knowing how to transform them into fundable projects. But ARCA continued to grow and organize events and educational and aggregative moments of ever greater local and national resonance.