Sifting beach cleaners, as previously discussed, purify the sand by using a cutting edge and beater bar to shovel the top later of sand onto a screen, which then vibrates. The sand falls through the screen, while the debris is carried up into a bucket.

Walk-behind sand-sifting beach cleaners, like the SAND MAN, are an excellent solution for small beaches. While not recommended for excessive seaweed, it excels at removing rocks, stones, twigs, and man made debris from the sand. Additionally, various screen sizes allow for extremely fine material to be removed

The sifting beach cleaner in the video to the right demonstrates its strength of picking up oil and tar balls from the beach after the Gulf Oil Spill.

Much like walk-behind sand-sifting beach cleaners, tractor powered ones provide similar results. It offers a quicker, more comfortable means of cleaning. However, the speed of the tractor is limited by the sand conditions. If the sand is wet or damp, it must travel at relatively low speeds to thoroughly clean without removing too much sand. However, it is excellent at removing material from fine, dry sand and can be a viable option depending on the beach conditions.