3,100 GB of digital trash was removed during Digital Cleanup Week

The last week of January was the Digital Cleanup Week at the university, aimed to encourage UT staff to delete unnecessary data from their devices and get rid of external data carriers.

The Digital Cleanup Week started on 25 January and ended on 29 January, the Estonia-wide Digital Cleanup Day. “The university took part in the campaign for the second year in a row, as we consider it important to show the way by environmentally responsible behaviour. The Digital Cleanup Week helps staff and students to understand that getting rid of digital trash directly contributes to reducing one’s carbon footprint,” said the leader of the UT Digital Cleanup Week, head of Service Division Imre Lall.

In total, the university members cleaned up 3.1 TB (3,100 GB) of digital trash. This equals 40 million emails or one million photos on average. As a result, this saved about 11.6 tonnes of CO2 in total. The same amount would be generated by travelling about 96,000 km by car.

As unused external data carriers are also considered digital trash, special rubbish bins were set up in the university's academic buildings. 72 kg of data carriers were collected. The largest share, 29 kg of discarded data carriers, was collected at Biomedicum.

“I want to thank all participants of the Digital Cleanup Week for their contribution to a more environmentally responsible university,” said Lall. “What is even more important is using the skills and principles obtained during the Digital Cleanup Week in our everyday life. The guidelines on the topic remain available in the university’s wiki and can be accessed at any time.”

Everybody who logged their participation in the Digital Cleanup Week were entered in a raffle for experience prizes. The prizes were: an escape room adventure in Pärnu for six people, tickets for two to the rock opera “Johnny”, annual tickets for the bicycle sharing system in Tartu and tickets for two to Elektrikino. The winners will be contacted regarding the prize.

Further information: Imre Lall, Head of Service Division, University of Tartu, 737 5381, imre.lall@ut.ee