Happy Zero Emissions Day 2022!

As we noticed during COVID lockdowns, a global shutdown of human activity allowed air pollution to lower drastically. Each individual needs to make an effort to limit emissions, as they directly affect human health and the environment, causing climate change, air pollution, extreme weather events, and more.

Zero Emissions Day is a single day to raise awareness on the impact of our daily emissions, which are gases and particles emitted by electricity, agriculture, transportation and the use of electronic devices, among others. As individuals, we have little influence on the bigger issues, however we can help reduce emissions with changes in our daily routine. 

Digital waste

One way to contribute to emission reduction is the control of digital waste. There are millions of tons worth of electronics that are being disposed of each year. Think twice about the environmental impact when you replace your old phone or laptop and ask yourself if you truly need this new gadget! You can also extend the life of your electronic equipment by keeping it clean and protected. Buy environmentally friendly devices and reuse or recycle large electronics adequately!

Keep your digital workplace tidy!

When it comes to the management of your digital workplace, there is much room for improvement! You can easily reduce the strain on IT (Information Technology) and Cloud services by regularly cleaning up your digital workspace. Bear in mind that in a huge organization (like Markem-Imaje) many GBs of redundant files stay on our servers if we don’t dedicate time to clean up every now and then. More servers and storage space will be needed if we don’t optimize, which in the future will cause a recycling challenge.
You can optimize your own digital space by emptying your One Drive, desktop and SharePoint folders and moving large and unused documents such as video or audio files to the dustbin.

Streamline your email account

Your email account is another well of avoidable digital litter. While it’s always recommendable to share links to documents stored on platforms like SharePoint or Teams instead of sending attachments, also bear in mind that email accounts are vulnerable to cyber-attacks, and you should not store emails containing business-critical information in your account. If you do receive relevant attachments via email, store them appropriately and as long as required according to your company’s data storage policy, then delete the email. Don’t forget to empty your “Deleted” folder occasionally! Don’t subscribe to newsletters you don’t really need to avoid an overflow of your inbox! Assess once a month if there is digital space (SharePoint, desktop, Teams) that can be freed of large and obsolete files. 

Remove files from your internal chats

We tend to share files on Teams, Zoom or other platforms during meetings or via chat, and while this is a better way of sharing than sending email attachments to various recipients, these files will stay on the chat platform forever unless you regularly clean up your chatrooms. It is thus recommended you browse your recent chats once a month to remove any obsolete files you shared during a meeting. 

Make your mark and reduce digital waste!