Digital waste: why we should get rid of it and how it can help the environment

Every online activity relies on physical infrastructure, including servers, data centres, telecommunications networks, and electronic devices. Operating this infrastructure requires electricity, while manufacturing and maintaining it consumes natural resources and generates greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), data centres worldwide consumed approximately 485 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity in 2025. That figure could almost double to 950 TWh by 2030, driven largely by artificial intelligence and growing demand for digital services.

The environmental consequences of our digital habits have inspired initiatives such as Digital Cleanup Day, which originated in Estonia and has grown into an international campaign encouraging individuals and organisations to delete unnecessary data and adopt more sustainable digital practices.

During Digital Cleanup Day on March 21, 2026, approximately 386,000 participants across 44 countries reportedly removed 2.3 million gigabytes of unnecessary data. The organisers estimated that these activities could avoid around 932 tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually, although such calculations depend on assumptions about storage systems and electricity use.

I explore how digital waste contributes to environmental pressures, why this issue is becoming increasingly relevant in Europe, and what individuals can do to reduce unnecessary digital consumption.

Duplicate photos and CO₂: what is the connection?

Imagine walking through a city and noticing an interesting mural. You decide to take a photograph, but the lighting is not quite right. You take another shot, only for someone to walk into the frame. After several attempts, you finally capture the perfect image.

The unsuccessful photographs remain on your smartphone, perhaps for years, until you eventually run out of storage space.

These forgotten images are a typical example of digital waste.

Similar situations occur with duplicate documents, outdated presentations, downloaded videos, unused applications, and emails that nobody intends to read again.

Whenever information is uploaded to cloud storage, shared through a messaging application, or processed by an online service, it passes through digital infrastructure. Data centres contain thousands of servers, storage systems, and networking devices that require continuous electricity supplies and cooling.

However, not every online interaction is permanently stored, and deleting a file does not necessarily reduce electricity consumption immediately. The environmental impact depends on how data is stored, how frequently it is accessed, whether backup copies exist, and how efficiently the infrastructure operates.

Nevertheless, the growing demand for digital services is creating significant challenges for the energy sector.

Europe’s growing data centre footprint

Europe is experiencing a rapid expansion of data centre infrastructure, driven by cloud computing, digitalisation, and the adoption of artificial intelligence.

According to a European Commission report published in September 2026, data centres in the European Union consumed approximately 68 TWh of electricity in 2024. Consumption is projected to reach 114 TWh by 2030, potentially accounting for 3.2% of total EU electricity demand.

This growth presents challenges for countries hosting large concentrations of data centres, including Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, and France.

The environmental impact extends beyond carbon emissions. Data centres may require substantial quantities of water for cooling, while their construction involves steel, concrete, electronic equipment, and other resource-intensive materials.

In response, the European Union has introduced energy performance reporting requirements for significant data centres under the Energy Efficiency Directive. These reporting requirements cover indicators such as electricity consumption, water use, renewable energy and waste heat reuse.

In September 2026, the European Commission also proposed a common EU rating scheme to make data centre energy and water performance more transparent.

Although individuals cannot directly control the energy infrastructure behind their favourite applications, adopting responsible digital habits can contribute to a broader shift towards more efficient use of digital resources.

Why we find it difficult to delete digital files

Despite recognising the benefits of keeping our digital spaces organised, many people struggle to delete files, particularly those associated with personal memories.

According to a survey conducted by VK and referenced in the original research, 44% of respondents said photographs of loved ones were the most difficult files to delete. Women were more reluctant to remove these photographs than men, with 49% and 38% respectively expressing this preference.

The same research found that 29% of respondents cleaned their digital storage approximately once a month. Another 17% did so once or twice a week, while 10% had developed a daily habit.

These findings illustrate how closely digital storage is connected to personal behaviour.

Unlike physical objects, digital files do not occupy visible space in our homes. We can accumulate thousands of photographs, messages, and documents without noticing how much information we are storing.

Yet digital clutter can make everyday activities less efficient. Finding important documents becomes more difficult, searching through emails takes longer, and unnecessary files occupy storage capacity that could otherwise be used more effectively.

Organising digital information therefore has practical benefits, even when the associated environmental savings are relatively small.

How to reduce digital waste

1. Delete unnecessary files from your smartphone and computer

Regularly reviewing the contents of your smartphone, laptop, and cloud storage is one of the simplest ways to reduce digital clutter.

A monthly digital cleanup can help identify photographs, screenshots, videos, and documents that are no longer needed.

For example, people working with text documents often accumulate numerous drafts of the same article or presentation. Some files contain only minor changes, while others are outdated versions that will never be opened again.

Instead of storing every version indefinitely, consider organising documents into clearly labelled folders and removing unnecessary duplicates.

The same principle applies to photographs. Keeping meaningful memories is important, but retaining five nearly identical images rarely provides additional value.

The environmental benefit of deleting files depends on several factors. Removing 5 GB of information from a cloud storage service does not automatically translate into a fixed reduction in CO₂ emissions.

Older digital cleanup campaigns sometimes suggested that deleting 5 GB of stored data could save approximately 1 kg of CO₂-equivalent emissions. However, such estimates should not be treated as universal conversion factors.

Actual savings depend on the storage technology, electricity mix, data replication, retention policies, and whether deleting the files reduces physical storage requirements over time.

Removing unnecessary files is therefore a reasonable practice, but its environmental benefits should not be overstated.

2. Unsubscribe from unnecessary emails and clean your inbox

Email is another common source of digital waste.

Most internet users receive promotional messages, newsletters, and notifications from companies and services they rarely interact with.

These messages accumulate over time, often remaining unopened for months or years.

One practical solution is to review newsletter subscriptions and unsubscribe from those that are no longer relevant.

This can reduce the volume of incoming messages, make important emails easier to find, and limit unnecessary data transfers.

The environmental impact of email has attracted considerable attention. Earlier calculations commonly suggested that a standard email generated approximately 4 grams of CO₂-equivalent emissions, while an email containing a large attachment could produce around 50 grams.

However, these figures originate from older estimates and do not necessarily reflect modern digital infrastructure. Improvements in data transmission, computing efficiency, and electricity generation have changed the carbon footprint of electronic communication considerably.

Moreover, the energy associated with writing and reading an email may exceed the incremental energy required to store or transmit it.

Consequently, deleting thousands of old messages does not necessarily deliver the dramatic emissions reductions sometimes suggested by digital sustainability campaigns.

Nevertheless, preventing unnecessary emails from being sent or repeatedly storing large attachments can contribute to more efficient digital communication.

For businesses, this may include reducing redundant automated notifications, avoiding unnecessary large attachments, and improving document-sharing practices.

3. Use cloud storage more efficiently

Cloud storage provides a convenient way to access photographs, documents, and other information from different devices.

Modern cloud platforms also offer tools that simplify digital organisation.

For example, some services can recognise faces, identify similar photographs, categorise documents, and organise images according to locations or dates.

These features can make it easier to find duplicate files and remove unnecessary content.

Cloud storage can also reduce the need to maintain several copies of the same document across different devices.

Instead of repeatedly emailing large attachments, users can share a link to a centrally stored file. In collaborative environments, this can improve version control and reduce confusion over which document is the latest.

However, moving information to the cloud is not automatically environmentally beneficial.

Uploading large amounts of unnecessary data creates additional storage demand, and keeping files simultaneously on multiple cloud platforms may increase rather than reduce resource consumption.

A more sustainable approach is to use cloud storage selectively, avoid unnecessary duplication, and establish clear data retention practices.

Digital sustainability goes beyond deleting files

Although removing unnecessary information can improve digital efficiency, individual file deletion is only one part of a much larger environmental challenge.

The energy consumption of digital technologies is influenced by the efficiency of data centres, the electricity used to operate them, the design of software, and the production and disposal of electronic devices.

The expansion of artificial intelligence is particularly relevant. The IEA reported that global electricity consumption by data centres increased by approximately 17% in 2025, while electricity consumption at AI-focused facilities grew by around 50%.

Addressing these trends requires more than encouraging individuals to empty their inboxes.

Technology companies can reduce environmental impacts by improving server utilisation, investing in efficient cooling technologies, increasing access to low-carbon electricity, and extending the useful life of electronic equipment.

Consumers can also make a difference by keeping smartphones and laptops for longer, repairing devices when possible, and avoiding unnecessary hardware replacements.

These actions can be particularly important because manufacturing electronic devices requires energy, minerals, water, and other resources.

In many cases, extending the lifetime of a functioning device may deliver greater environmental benefits than deleting a few gigabytes of data.

A cleaner digital space can support a more sustainable future

Digital waste is different from conventional household waste. It is invisible, does not accumulate in physical bins, and can be stored almost indefinitely.

Nevertheless, the infrastructure supporting digital services has a real environmental footprint.

As Europe expands its data centre capacity and accelerates the adoption of artificial intelligence, improving the efficiency of digital infrastructure will become increasingly important.

Regularly deleting unnecessary files, reducing duplicate storage, unsubscribing from unwanted messages, and organising cloud services are practical steps towards more responsible digital consumption.

They can also deliver immediate personal benefits by freeing storage space, improving productivity, and making important information easier to access.

However, the contribution of digital cleanup to climate change mitigation should be understood realistically. Deleting a single email or photograph does not produce a measurable, guaranteed reduction in carbon emissions.

The greatest environmental benefits will come from combining responsible individual behaviour with systemic improvements in energy efficiency, low-carbon electricity generation, sustainable hardware production, and transparent data centre operations.

The goal is not to stop using digital technologies, but to use them more intelligently: preserving what matters, eliminating unnecessary duplication, and reducing the resources required to support our increasingly connected lives.

illuminem Voices is a democratic space presenting the opinions of leading Sustainability Thought Leaders, their views do not necessarily represent those of illuminem.

The world needs sustainability knowledge. At illuminem, no interest group or shareholder can influence our work. Thank you for supporting our mission to make high-quality and independent sustainability information free for all. Every contribution helps. Thank you for donating today.