Sand cleaning machine

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Walk Behind Beach Cleaner
Walk-behind beach cleaner
Tractor Attached Beach Cleaner
beach cleaner machine purifies sand
Raking beach cleaner

A tractor-pulled beach cleaner at Hietaniemi beach in Helsinki, Finland.

A sand cleaning machine, beach cleaner, or (colloquially) sandboni is a vehicle

that drags a raking or sifting device over beach sand to remove rubbish and other
foreign matter. They are manually self-pulled vehicles on tracks or wheels or
pulled by quad-bike or tractor. Seaside cities use beach cleaning machines to
combat the problems of litter left by beach patrons and other pollution washed up
on their shores. A chief task in beach cleaning strategies is finding the best way
to handle waste matter on the beaches, taking into consideration beach erosion and
changing terrain. Beach cleaning machines work by collecting sand by way of a scoop
or drag mechanism and then raking or sifting anything large enough to be considered
foreign matter, including sticks, stones, litter and other items. Similar
applications include lake beaches, sandfields for beach volleyball and kindergarten
and playing field sandpits. The word "sandboni" is a back-formation referencing the
ice-surfacing machine Zamboni.[1]
Contents

1 Common technologies
2 Areas of operation
3 Manufacturers
4 See also
5 References
6 External links

Common technologies

Raking technology can be used on dry or wet sand. When using this method, a
rotating conveyor belt containing hundreds of tines combs through the sand and
removes surface and buried debris while leaving the sand on the beach. Raking
machines can remove materials ranging in size from small pebbles, shards of glass,
and cigarette butts to larger debris, like seaweed and driftwood. By keeping the
sand on the beach and only lifting the debris, raking machines can travel at high
speeds.

Sifting technology is practiced on dry sand and soft surfaces. The sand and waste
are collected via the pick-up blade of the vehicle onto a vibrating screening belt,
which leaves the sand behind. The waste is gathered in a collecting tray which is
often situated at the back of the vehicle. Because sand and waste are lifted onto
the screening belt, sifters must allow time for the sand to sift through the screen
and back onto the beach. The size of the materials removed is governed by the size
of the holes in the installed screen.

Combined raking and sifting technology differs from pure sifters in that it uses
rotating tines to scoop sand and debris onto a vibrating screen instead of relying
simply on the pick-up blade. The tines' position can be adjusted to more
effectively guide different-sized materials onto the screen. Once on the screen,
combined raking and sifting machines use the same technology as normal sifters to
remove unwanted debris from the sand.
Sand sifting by hand is used for smaller areas or sensitive habitat. Sand and
debris is collected into a windrow or pile and manually shoveled onto screened
sifting trays to separate the debris from the sand. While effective, it requires
the movement of sand to the site of the tray, and then redistribution of the sand
after sifting. A more efficient method is the use of a screened fork at the place
where the debris is located. The effort to manually agitate the sand can become
tiresome; however, a recent development of a battery-powered sand rake combines the
spot cleaning effectiveness of manual screening with the ease of an auto-sifting
hand tool.
Areas of operation
Sandboni at the gulf of Mexico
Beach volleyball field after rework of a sand cleaner

Sand cleaning machines are used all over the world for the purpose of the safety
and happiness of beach-goers. By removing litter, unwanted seaweed, and other
debris from the beach, municipalities and resorts are able to maintain their
beaches with fewer invested hours.

In addition to their regular litter-removing uses, beach and sand cleaners have
been used to clean up after natural disasters. For example:

In Galveston, Texas, low oxygen levels in the water resulted in thousands of dead
fish washing ashore. Raking sand cleaners were then used to remove the rotting fish
off the beach before they released excessive toxins into the air, sand, and water.
[2]

The Olympic Games 2008 saw the first remote-control Sandbonis for the beach
volleyball fields in Beijing Chaoyang Park.[3]

The cleanup after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill saw large applications of sand
cleaners to the area.[1] Similarly, the Rena oil spill in New Zealand also saw
beach cleaners deployed in an effort to remove the affected sand.[4]
Manufacturers

The major manufacturers of large beach-sand cleaning machines are considered to be

D'Hooghe machinebouw, ingeniería Flozaga Guterh Sl, H Barber & Sons, Cherrington,
Beach Tech, PFG Srl, Tuareg srl, Scam Srl, Rockland, Qingzhou Rio and Tirrenia Srl.

There are many other manufacturers of sand cleaners being used for other purposes.
For example, a smaller 4-wheel and halftrack sand cleaning machine is used for
sandpits in Kindergarten and municipality playing fields and for beach volleyball.
[5][6] When environmental or spot-cleaning requires hand operations, an auto-
sifting, lightweight, screened rake can be the best choice[7]
See also

Marine debris
Waste collector (Trash collector)

References

Sandbonis to the Rescue, Sarah Netter, abc-news 16.6.2010

Stinky cleanup under way along Texas coast after big fish kill Archived 2013-01-27
at Archive.today
Movie Themes, Mascots and a Lady With a Net, Greg Bishop 16.8.2008
Reports Rena has broken up 'false' - Maritime NZ - Nightline - Video - 3 News
Halftrack machines of RO-FLEX GmbH Archived November 18, 2011, at the Wayback
Machine, Karlstadt, company website
Home Cleaningin Dubai, company website
Auto-Sifting sand rakes from Equi-tee Mfg