Digital CleanUp at the University of Cologne

Let me just quickly save this text file to the desktop and keep versions 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the PowerPoint presentation in my folder, even though it has already gone through the necessary approval process. Fifty photos uploaded to Sciebo, but only five of them are actually used. Sound familiar? We've all got a bit of a digital hoarder in us.

Did you know that digital waste consumes electricity and causes CO₂ emissions?

The internet is particularly bad for the environment. According to the World Cleanup Day initiative, most websites hosted on servers worldwide have no or very few visitors, and most of the data stored online are never used again. Digital activities therefore contribute significantly to environmental pollution, but this often goes unnoticed.

At the University of Cologne, we want to do better. We are currently taking part in the global ‘Digital Cleanup Day’ initiative on 15 March, and during the week of 10 – 14 March, we’ll be offering you a small incentive each day to clean up your digital files.

Don’t worry; there’s no need for a massive purge of your servers, cloud storage and email inboxes before Cleanup Day. Simply use this campaign as an incentive to tackle your digital waste. Once you’ve got some order in place, it’s about paying attention to your daily data behaviour, so that every day becomes Digital CleanUp Day.

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Professor Dr Kirk W. Junker, Vice-Rector for Sustainability

‘We have become accustomed to only printing what’s necessary – or at least recycling the paper we use. While digital data take up no visible space and do not cause deforestation, they still cause problems. Server and cloud storage data consume considerable amounts of energy and have a negative impact on our climate. These problems can be mitigated by deleting unnecessary data. We have learnt to recycle paper on a regular basis. Now it's time to develop the habit of systematically deleting unused digital data. Join us in establishing this new habit during our Digital CleanUp campaign week starting on 10 March. Make cleaning up digital data and saving energy a regular part of your cleaning and recycling routine – at home and at work!’

The following pages will help you get your digital household in order. Take part to be entered to win something!