Most people don’t think about digital waste. It’s invisible—no overflowing landfills, no oceans choked with debris. But behind every unread email, forgotten backup, and unused app lies an energy cost that contributes to global carbon emissions. In fact, if the internet were a country, it would be one of the world’s largest polluters.
Jaka Kranjc, our Let’s Do It World leader from Slovenia and the driving force behind this year’s Digital Cleanup Day (DCD) campaign, has dedicated years to tackling this unseen crisis. In this conversation, he explains why digital waste matters, what we can do about it, and why he believes we need to rethink the way we use technology.
Digital waste isn’t something many people think about. So what exactly is it, and why should we care?
It’s quite simple, if you think of it as waste that’s in the digital world. Waste is something unwanted, broken, or without value. Now, apply that to the digital realm. It could be useless files, outdated systems, or inefficient digital processes.
Every piece of digital data is stored on physical hardware—there’s no magical 'cloud'; we’re actually just storing our data on other computers. The more data we store, the more physical resources we need to support it—more disks and servers, more network infrastructure, more energy consumption, more transportation, and more mining for materials. Then at the end of the cycle, e-waste from discarded machines is also growing exponentially.
And what’s the impact of all this?
The numbers are horrific. About 90% of sensor data, from things like cameras and heat sensors, is collected but never even looked at. And when it comes to storage, around 80% of data is ‘dark data’—meaning it’s never accessed again.
So a lot of the data we’re storing has no real value, per se. It just keeps accumulating. Our data production is pretty much doubling every two years. And the ICT sector’s carbon footprint now rivals that of aviation. If we don’t start managing it better—that sector alone could consume a third of the world’s energy supply by 2050!
Why do you think digital waste receives so little attention compared to other environmental topics?
ICT has long been seen as a ‘golden horse’ for economic growth and innovation. Politically, it’s been untouchable. COVID-19 likely accelerated awareness, as we became more reliant on digital tools. Even I didn’t fully grasp the scale until I joined the Digital Cleanup Day effort, and I consider myself an ICT guy. In computing, you tend to work on your own little program or whatever, and don’t see the bigger picture.
But awareness is growing, and there’s mounting public pressure on companies to be more sustainable. Even the European Union is becoming a bit more aware that the ICT sector has to be greened. And if you’re running a data centre where your main cost is electricity for running and cooling the servers, then you’re going to be thinking about it aren’t you?
What do you think is driving this issue?
One big problem is over-digitalisation. Not everything needs to be online! I don’t need my toothbrush to have Wi-Fi. I don’t need a thermostat that only works through an app. A colleague of mine has one, and if her phone battery died during a power cut, she wouldn’t even be able to turn on her radiator. That’s ridiculous.
We need to talk about data sufficiency, just like we talk about sufficiency when it comes to material resources. It’s about setting boundaries for responsible data use, which we’re not currently doing. For example, my Gmail account no longer has a size limit, which doesn’t encourage me to clean up my inbox. Previously, with a 30-gigabyte limit, I had to regularly search for large attachments or photos to delete or organise more systematically. Now, with unlimited storage, I could easily just let it pile up indefinitely.
What about the recent growth of Artificial Intelligence? Where does that fit in?
AI has some incredibly positive impacts on society—in medicine and science, for example—so it does have an important place in society. But when it comes to energy consumption, it’s horrible. We know that the server racks used for training models consume triple the power of regular servers, and adding AI into a Google search for example, increases the carbon footprint by up to 10 times. One eye-opening moment recently was the news that Microsoft is considering building its own nuclear power plant to fuel its AI data centres.
That said, recent developments in open-source models, like DeepSeek and Llama, have made AI more efficient and accessible, which is a positive step. And as with everything, it’s about being responsible in how we use it—only where it genuinely improves our lives, and not just shoe-horning it into every product just for the sake of it. Take a hammer, for example—it’s a great tool for the right job, but you wouldn’t use it to eat meat or comb your hair. That’s how I feel about our use of AI.
Any common misconceptions you’d like to clear up about digital waste?
We do sometimes get messages from ICT professionals saying we’re crazy and this is all nonsense—despite the fact that there are entire research departments working on the issue! The problem is that you often need to simplify technical messages to be understandable to the wider public, but then you can end up oversimplifying it to the point that tech people no longer take it seriously.
One misconception is the idea that it doesn’t matter whether your disk is 10% or 70% full, it will use the same energy. Up to a point of course, that’s true. But if we’re not careful with how we manage data, then we’ll need more storage—another disk, another server, another server rack, another data centre. When all our digital waste combines, it really adds up.
And what’s the solution—other than cleaning up our file storage, what can be done about all this?
If we really want to decarbonise the ICT sector, then we need a broader consensus, and action from all levels of society. Unfortunately, there’s no quick techno-fix for this one! It will need regulation from governments, like the law introduced in France to encourage change within companies and the public sector. Or like in Slovenia, where public procurement rules now require data centres to meet certain energy efficiency levels. And for us as end users, it’s not just about changing our habits and cleaning up our machines, but we need to be vocal too—to demand from these companies and our governments to do better.
What can companies do to reduce their digital impact?
We had one good practice example presented at our recent conference on digital waste in Slovenia. They looked at their whole system—data was scattered, some on paper, some digital, with access issues and security risks. So, they put together a strategy to manage their digital footprint. It focused on improving staff habits, organising their IT systems properly, and making sure the people running it all had a clear structure. Another company held a Digital Cleanup Day challenge, rewarding employees with an extra holiday day for deleting the most waste! That’s a great motivation, right?
And when it comes to developers, it’s about striving for simplicity. There’s that Saint-Exupéry quote I love—the idea that ‘perfection comes not when there’s nothing more to add, but when there’s nothing left to take away’. It’s the same in IT. A simple, well-optimised system is often the most powerful. We’ve become lazy because hardware is so powerful nowadays, but we now need to spend more time properly designing things—choosing the right technology, improving our algorithms, optimising websites to be light and so on. There’s a real beauty in simplicity that I’d love my fellow developers to get inspired by.
Are you seeing a shift in the right direction?
I mean, when you look at the stats, the trends are horrible and growth is exponential. But yes, there is growing awareness, and small things are starting to be done. But we need more to be done, of course. And it’s clear it would be a win-win-win-win situation! There’s a real business case for digital sustainability—optimising their websites can increase sales, and cleaning up files can reduce storage costs, for example. Then, of course, it’s a win for the environment. But there’s a social benefit too—when we talk about things like digital detox and reconnecting with nature.
Any final message for readers?
If we want to reach a low carbon future, the ICT sector can’t just be seen as the good guy helping to green other sectors through digitalisation. It needs to do some serious introspection and recognise that it is contributing to the problem.
And for everyone else? If you don’t need it, delete it. But more than that, it’s about building better organisational processes and responsible digital habits in individuals. How many Youtube videos do I really need to watch per day, and at fullscreen? Do I need to video call my colleague or can I just message them? Do I need to ask AI for the answer, or can I find it out another way? We have a choice what technology we use and how, and that matters. While it may feel like nothing at the individual level, on a global scale, it really adds up.
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Feeling inspired to clean up your digital footprint? Join Digital Cleanup Day and help delete millions of gigabytes of digital waste across the world. Be part of the solution—every action counts. Learn more at: www.digitalcleanupday.org.
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