Every year on 21 March, Digital Cleanup Day invites individuals, organisations, and communities around the world to take a step back and rethink the way we interact with our digital lives. What may seem like an abstract idea — deleting old files, clearing out unused apps, streamlining storage — actually has real-world consequences for the planet, our privacy, and the longevity of our devices.
Originally launched in 2020 and now embraced internationally, this global initiative highlights the often-invisible impact of our digital habits on energy use, carbon emissions and e-waste, encouraging us not just as an institution but as individuals to take responsibility for the digital clutter that silently contributes to environmental strain.
Our aim for Digital Cleanup Day
We want to help you understand the impact of excessive digital storage and show you how simple actions can reduce both organisational costs and environmental impact. By managing storage more effectively, we can work together to create a more sustainable and cost‑efficient digital environment.
We are going to concentrate on the following applications to try to make a change to how much digital data we are storing for your work or your studies, and to encourage you to move any data which is personal to alternative storage.
- OneDrive
- Outlook
- Microsoft Teams
- SharePoint
Why does digital storage matter?
As a large organisation, the University uses a substantial amount of digital storage. While much of this data is essential, a significant proportion is what we refer to as “dead data” — files that are outdated, irrelevant, duplicated, or no longer required.
Digital storage is not free. It comes with both:
- Financial costs, through licensing and storage charges
- Environmental costs, as data storage requires energy to run and cool servers
Reducing unnecessary data helps us save money while also lowering our overall environmental footprint.
Why do we need to cut down on storage now?
It’s not just about Digital Cleanup Day, there is a pressing reason for us to radically look at what we all have stored in the cloud and to make as many reductions as we can. This year Microsoft is changing its licensing model and storage quotas. As part of these changes, our allocated storage limit will be reduced in August this year. Any storage used beyond this limit will incur additional charges.
Here’s where we currently stand:
- Allocated storage: 400Tb
- Current usage: Over the limit by 110Tb
This total includes all files and data stored across:
- OneDrive
- Microsoft Teams
- SharePoint
- Outlook (including emails)
To put this into perspective, this excess storage would result in:
- £30,000.00 per year in additional costs from 2026
- Even higher costs in 2027 and beyond
These are costs we can avoid — if we act together.
The scale of the challenge
Recent statistics show that across the University:
- Over 80 million files are stored
- Only around 2% of these files are accessed daily!
This means the vast majority of our stored data is rarely or never used. Much of it qualifies as dead data: information that is obsolete, inaccurate, or no longer needed.
On top of this, our storage usage continues to grow rapidly.
How fast is our data growing?
On average, we add approximately 3Tb of new data every month.
To help visualise that, it is roughly equivalent to:
- 750,000 mp3 songs
- 600,000 photos from a 12 Megapixel camera
- 800 hours of HD video footage
Without changes to how we store and manage data, these numbers will continue to rise.
How can I reduce my storage use?
To make this manageable, we’ve broken storage reduction down into simple, application‑specific activities. These focus on the main places where data is stored:
- OneDrive
- Microsoft Teams
- Outlook
- SharePoint
Each guide includes:
- Step‑by‑step instructions
- Estimated completion times, so you can fit tasks into your day
Some actions are quick wins and won’t make a huge difference on their own, while others take a little longer but have a much bigger impact. Every action matters, and even small changes add up when we all take part.
Getting started
To begin, choose one of the application guides below and work through the steps:
- Clean up and organise your OneDrive (please remove any personal data, including documents, photos, videos and music – guide to where you can save personal data here.)
- Clean up and organise files and channels in Microsoft Teams
- Reduce storage use in Outlook, including large or unnecessary emails (insert link to new service)
- Clean up your SharePoint sites – remove redundant sites and clear out space on your other sites.
By taking a few minutes to review and delete what you no longer need, you’ll be helping the University:
- Reduce unnecessary costs
- Stay within future storage limits
- Minimise environmental impact of our excess storage
Personal data
University cloud storage is provided for learning, teaching, research, and work‑related activities, so it shouldn’t be used for personal files. Storing personal data can create privacy, security, and data protection risks, especially as University accounts are time‑limited and may be reviewed or closed when you leave. To keep everyone’s data safe and systems running smoothly, personal content should be kept separate from University services.
Personal data includes things like: private documents, personal photos or videos, music, CVs, tax or banking files, phone backups, and non‑University app data.
To help, we’ve curated guidance on alternative personal cloud storage options that are better suited for storing your own files safely and long‑term.
There is a hidden cost of digital life
- Datacentres and networks together use a huge chunk of electricity, and it’s estimated that datacentres alone consume the equivalent of hundreds of terawatt-hours annually, with predictiction
sthat this could double in 2026. - Global e-waste hit ~62 million metric tons in 2022 and is forecast to climb by ~82 million tons by 2030.
- Only about 22-24% of that e-waste was documented as formally collected and recycled.
- Globally “Dark Data” – information that is collected and stored but never used is estimated to generate more than 5.8 million tons of CO2 annually. Which is the equivalent of 1.2 million cars.
- Producing a typical 2kg computer requires ~800 kg of raw materials, which highlights how much mining, processing and transport before the products are even used.
- Electricity and efficiency aren’t improving evenly: In many regions a large share of datacentres power still comes from fossil energy, leading to significant CO2 impacts.
- Cloud storage backups still use real physical energy and create emissions, even though “the cloud” is invisible.
☕👥 Grab your colleagues, a coffee, and that SharePoint site that haunts your dreams.
Today’s mission: figuring out what’s a must‑have and what’s a “why did we even save this?”Nothing brings a team together like laughing at 2018’s file names and deleting duplicates like digital superheroes. 🦸♀️🗑️💾
Join Us at the Sustainable & Active Travel Fayre
As part of Green Week, Information Services (Library & IT) will be at the Sustainable & Active Travel Fayre to showcase Digital Cleanup Day. Drop by to discover how your digital habits affect the environment, pick up practical tips for reducing your digital footprint, and get guidance on managing storage in OneDrive, Teams, SharePoint, and Outlook. To find out more about the Sustainable & Active Travel Fayre and explore the full programme of events, visit the University of Stirling’s Green Week page.
Date: 9 March 2026
Time: 11:00 – 15:00 GMT
Location: Atrium
Thank you for your support
Reducing digital storage is a shared responsibility, and we truly appreciate any time and effort you can contribute. With collective action, we can significantly reduce our storage footprint, save money, and build a more sustainable digital future.
Every file deleted helps — thank you for being part of the solution.