South Africa’s 2 500 kms of coastline with its beautiful beaches are popular for local as well as international tourists and keeping these natural resources spotless is vital for the country’s tourism industry. The ability of current beach cleaning to remove glass and other debris smaller than 10mm is found wanting by some of the local municipalities.

The flexibility of Wacker Neuson’s range of compact and light machines and equipment make them suitable for a wide range of application, from construction, road-making and mining to landscaping and even beach cleaning. When the company was approached by one of the coastal municipalities for a solution, Wacker Neuson demonstrated the excellent beach cleaning capabilities of the Wacker Neuson 1101CP skid steer loader with a specialised beach cleaning attachment.

With a payload of 1,150 kg, the loader delivers outstanding traction and can easily negotiate sandy, muddy or rocky terrain. The high-quality, rigid steel structure is designed for stability and a longer service life which translates to low total cost of ownership for the end-user.

Wacker Neuson Regional President for Sub-Saharan Africa, Eugene Brown, confirms that the demonstration was a huge success. “Our machine worked beautifully, moving seamlessly along the beach collecting a wide array of rubble which included glass, plastic, tins and papers. What particularly impressed the municipal representatives was the attachment’s ability to pick up small debris, even small chicken bones! This is made possible by the specially developed screens, with hole sizes that trap debris as small as 10mm.”

Featuring hydraulic pilot control, both machine and attachment is operator friendly making it an efficient and productive one-man operation with very little training required. The screens are easily and quickly locked into place using two simple hand-held bolts fitted on either side of the attachment. The Wacker Neuson 1101cp features a high-output hydraulic system, together with an in-cab control box for the attachment.

Effortless adjustment of the cleaning depth and hopper opening are performed via the in-cab control box, with the collection bucket at the rear of the machine fitted with hydraulic operated cylinders for fast dumping of collected debris. The proprietary PowerRide load spring suspension system ensures fast and secure material transport over longer distances, without loss even over rough terrain.