Digital waste is not just files we forget to delete. It is also part of our everyday digital habits. Unnecessary documents, old emails, unused apps, and duplicate photos quickly pile up, and we often overlook their impact.
Digital technologies account for approximately 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, which is more than aviation, while the internet and its supporting systems generate around 900 million tonnes of CO2 annually. At the same time, about 90% of digital data is never used again. This is also highlighted by the campaign Let’s Clean Slovenia of Digital Waste, organized by Ekologi brez meja.
At Kliping, we joined the campaign as a supporter and also carried out an internal cleanup of our own digital waste. Together, we deleted enough data to produce an estimated annual footprint of 270,465 g CO2eq. To put that into perspective: this is roughly equivalent to driving 1,473 kilometers by car or producing 375.1 liters of milk. We wanted to approach the topic in a practical way and show that digital hygiene begins with everyday decisions. That is why, after the workshop, in addition to a one-time “cleanup action,” we also introduced a few concrete changes into our daily routine.
When we listen to music in the office, we set YouTube videos to a lower resolution, because watching video content in high resolution consumes as much as 86% more energy than watching it in standard quality. During online meetings, we try to turn off our cameras, especially when someone is sharing their screen, since this can reduce emissions by as much as 96%. We also learned that even in everyday communication, we can make a simple shift: where it makes sense, we replace some email communication with chat tools such as Messenger, Slack, or Teams.
These kinds of steps are not big, but they are important. We therefore encourage you to review your own digital habits and take a concrete step as well. If you want to approach the cleanup as comprehensively as possible, we suggest checking the campaign website, where you will find a great many suggestions and guidelines: https://digital.ocistimo.si/.
