When a massive hurricane devastated the west coast of Florida this fall, lives were lost, and homes were destroyed. Also impactful was the effect of toxic water on the region’s pristine beaches. Who can help these communities restore their beaches back to the way nature intended?

Finlay to the rescue!

Using Finlay screeners, Lee County has sifted through 80,000 cubic yards of debris. They are going through miles and miles of contaminated sand that not long ago was pristine.

“There’s a little bit of everything in the sand right now, from pollution to germs to pieces of glass,” said James Douglass, a marine and earth science professor at Florida Gulf Coast University. “Human debris, little plastics that get shredded by the wind, shavings of every kind of human product imaginable are mixed in with the natural rocks and shells of the beach. And those can hurt sea life if sea life eats them, and they can leach toxic chemicals into the water too,” Douglass said. 

The big red Finlay “sand sifting machine” is on Fort Myers Beach, being operated by a company called ICS Materials. A tractor loads the hopper with dirty sand. The sand sifter then filters items into two groups: big or small. The clean sand goes up the conveyer and is collected in piles that will be used to restore the shoreline.

Team Members at Finlay and throughout Terex can feel proud to be fulfilling our Purpose of helping improve people’s lives around the world!  

Great job team Finlay Eastern!