Digital pollution: definition and solutions

Like all human activities, digital technology has an impact on the environment. Whether it is the manufacture of computer equipment or the use and storage of data, digital pollutes.

And the numbers are worrisome. According to a study published in January 2022 by ADEME and the Communications Regulatory Authority (Arcep), 10% of France's annual electricity consumption comes from digital services and 2.5% of France's carbon footprint is linked to digital technology (which is equivalent to the traffic of 13 million cars). 21% of digital pollution is generated by the use of digital devices (smartphones, computers, tablets, etc.) and 78% by the manufacture of these devices.

The problem is that unlike a beach littered with waste, digital pollution is invisible. It is therefore difficult to realize the impact of sending an email or video conference on the environment. A quick overview of what digital pollution is, and solutions to reduce it.

What is digital pollution?

Digital pollution is generated by the manufacture and use of new technologies. And its consequences are multiple:

• greenhouse gas emissions that are responsible for global warming;
• chemical contamination;
• an erosion of biodiversity caused in particular by the extraction of minerals;
• a depletion of resources;
• overconsumption of water and electricity;
• the production of electronic waste.

Digital pollution is the most important during the production of computer equipment. For example, to make a laptop, dozens of metals are needed that come from countries around the world, and extracting them requires a lot of energy (fossil), water, and resources. And the bigger the equipment, the greater its impact on the environment.

Another major source of pollution are servers or data centers. Indeed, to send an email, Watch a video online or join a video conference, your device connects to servers around the world that consume huge amounts of energy to function and be cooled. This causes electricity consumption to explode.

Finally, the computer hardware recycling is another problem as many homes keep their unused or faulty electronic devices instead of recycling them. The problem is that they contain resources (cobalt, copper, etc.) that could be used to make new electronic devices or other products.

How to reduce digital pollution

What can we do to limit our digital footprint when today, we work and communicate almost exclusively digitally?

Here are the best practices to adopt to reduce your digital pollution within your business.

1. Reduce and sort your emails

Did you know that sending and storing e-mails are a major source of pollution? Indeed, a simple email represents 4 g of CO₂, and if you add an attachment, this figure can reach 50g of CO₂. Knowing that nearly 1.4 billion e-mails are sent per day in France, we understand the urgency of reducing the number of e-mails sent.

Here are the right actions to reduce the digital pollution caused by your emails.

• Avoid sending unnecessary emails to say “thank you” or “have a nice weekend” to colleagues. Only send essential emails.
• Prefer the telephone, and call your colleague to give him instructions rather than writing him a long email.
• Avoid copying the entire department or company from your emails. Target only the intended recipients.
• Only send attachments if they really need to be sent, and keep their size as small as possible. Choose links that refer to storage space.
• Clean your inbox. Sort through your emails, taking care to remove unnecessary emails and spam.
• Unsubscribe from newsletters that don't interest you.

2. Consuming differently

As we have seen, connected objects and electronic devices consume energy and pollute. So, to reduce digital pollution in your business, avoid acquiring all sorts of connected objects that are not really useful.

Don't give in to the urge to buy new computers every three years and change your smartphone every year. As long as your computing devices are working, keep them. Maintain them regularly to ensure they remain efficient. If, nevertheless, you prefer to part with them, do not throw them away but give them a second life by giving them to an association or by reselling them.

If your equipment breaks down or is broken, have the reflex to have it repaired.

And if you have no choice but to buy, give priority to the second hand and opt for refurbished devices (cheaper and less polluting) and/or with the lowest possible energy consumption.

Finally, remember to turn off your computers and your wifi box every night when leaving because these devices also consume energy when they are on standby. According toAdeme, a wifi box that is on 24 hours a day can consume more than 200 kWh per year, which is as much as a washing machine.

3. Change your habits

Finally, to reduce digital pollution in your organization, it is necessary to change the practices and habits of employees. Here are a few examples.

• Store the data or files you use daily on your computer or on an external hard drive instead of on the cloud to avoid going back and forth with servers.
• Bookmark the websites you use regularly to avoid using a search engine every time, or leaving lots of tabs open all the time.
• Download the videos instead of streaming them. According to Greenpeace, video streaming accounts for 60% of data flows on the Internet, which is equivalent to about 1% of global CO emissions₂.
• Type the address of a website directly into the browser when you know it, and use search engines that are greener than Google like Ecosia or Lilo.

Follow these tips to fight digital pollution, and thus reduce the environmental impact of your business.