Best way to clean up glass?

One of the crags I'm projecting a few routes at has a bunch of glass (among other things) scattered around the parking lot. I'm getting some folks together to go clean it up, but before I go I was wondering if anybody has any tips for making glass cleanup easier.

I've picked up glass in the past by just squatting down and picking up pieces of glass individually with gloves, but that's miserable. Is there a better way?

I wish so much there was some kind of glass magnet for this. 

Glass guy here.   The hard way is the only way.

Shop vac on a generator 

I have used a battery powered shop vac to good effect for this. Something like a Dewalt or Milwaukee that uses the same battery as their power tools.

I have Ursack bags (fabric bear canister) that I use for glass cleanup.  It is pretty cut proof.  I put a plastic bag inside it for disposal of the shards.  Unfortunately, bending over and picking it up with leather gloves is the only way I've found to get it in the bag.  Thanks for your work.  I carried 3.7 pounds of glass and trash off one of my local crags recently.

For the shop vac folks, does this end up removing a lot of dirt as well? Or is that just not a big problem?

Jay Anderson wrote:

I have Ursack bags (fabric bear canister) that I use for glass cleanup.  It is pretty cut proof.  I put a plastic bag inside it for disposal of the shards.  Unfortunately, bending over and picking it up with leather gloves is the only way I've found to get it in the bag.  Thanks for your work.  I carried 3.7 pounds of glass and trash off one of my local crags recently.

That's a neat idea, but those Ursacks are pretty dang expensive--I wouldn't want to give mine up for this purpose. There's a consignment shop in town, maybe I'll see if they have one cheap.

This gives me the idea that there are those $10 kevlar kitchen gloves on Amazon which might be useful though.

David K wrote:

I've picked up glass in the past by just squatting down and picking up pieces of glass individually with gloves, but that's miserable.

You’ve just answered your own question. A problem with glass is if the pieces aren’t big enough, you really can’t rake/sweep them since they stick flat to the ground. Throw in the mix terrain and difficulty of picking up shards of glass goes way up.
Vacuumes work well on hard surfaces, but outside with rocks, dirt not so much.

Good question. Thanks for your efforts.

For large pieces one of those trash pick up type grabbers seems like a possible option. Harbor freight has them cheap   

For small pieces I have one of those dewalt mini vacs. It sucks the stuff in to a hard plastic bin. Maybe do that then pour out over a screen to let the dirt sift out? 

trash tweezers: don't have to bend over plus the the rubber contact surface does a great job; super grippy. I use for trash pick ups all the time which always have significant amounts of broken glass.

https://www.amazon.com/Grabber-FitPlus-Premium-Reacher-Warranty/dp/B07T3HTBD9/ref=sr_1_8?keywords=Trash+Tongs&qid=1662905765&sr=8-8

A good stiff broom. . .

Shop vac with a 2” hose and a long extension so you don’t have to bend over. Walk around sucking up glass and dirt, then dump frequently into a tray. Helps to have a second to sort the till. You can do a large area pretty quickly. Use an inverter with a plug in your vehicle. You don’t need a generator lol. You can get one at WallyWorld for like 20 bucks. 

David K wrote:

That's a neat idea, but those Ursacks are pretty dang expensive--I wouldn't want to give mine up for this purpose. There's a consignment shop in town, maybe I'll see if they have one cheap.

My Ursack still works fine for protecting food.  I just use it occasionally for glass duty.  I line it with a trash compactor bag or heavy plastic bag which contains the mess.  If you already have an Ursack, glass duty won't ruin it.  If you don't, I agree that they are pricey for a glass bag :-).  Thanks again for the effort to remove glass.

Salamanizer Ski wrote:

Shop vac with a 2” hose and a long extension so you don’t have to bend over. Walk around sucking up glass and dirt, then dump frequently into a tray. Helps to have a second to sort the till. You can do a large area pretty quickly. Use an inverter with a plug in your vehicle. You don’t need a generator lol. You can get one at WallyWorld for like 20 bucks. 

Check the power requirements of the shop vac and the specs of your vehicle, typically the 12v accessory/lighter plugs are fused for 120w or so, and a typical alternator puts out ~800w, typical shop vacs will basically max out a household circuit at 1200w-1600w, so even if you hardwire in a high power inverter you could end up with a dead battery.

 If you already have a bunch of batteries for bolting, best bet is to get a mini shop vac or blower that runs on the same system.