Dozens of terabytes of digital waste deleted during Telia Digital Cleanup Day 2024

TALLINN, Feb 02, BNS - Telia Digital Cleanup Day 2024, which took place on the last Friday of January, Jan. 26, once again saw a large number of people, companies, institutions, schools and kindergartens from all over Estonia clear dozens of terabytes of digital waste and recycle large numbers of digital devices that they no longer use. 

This year, nearly 230 organizations and 2,500 individuals signed up for the Digital Cleanup Day. The number of participants in fact is much higher, as many people, institutions and businesses have already made a tradition of digital cleaning and do not register their participation every year, Telia Estonia said in a press release.

Holger Haljand, CEO of Telia Estonia, said it is impressive how Estonian people and organizations have been more and more actively involved in the Digital Cleanup Day year after year. This, he said, shows that society is increasingly interested in reducing the digital footprint. 

"This time, we had very active and thorough participants in the digital cleanup, freeing their equipment and IT systems from dozens of terabytes of  digital waste. It is also gratifying that many schools and kindergartens are very diligent digital cleaners," Haljand added. 

The Tartu Environmental Education Center, also known as the Green School, participated in this year's digital cleanup as a partner, inviting schools and kindergartens to join the cleanup action.

"Based on the data garnered by the Green School, 158 educational institutions, including schools, kindergartens, and some vocational schools, registered for the digital cleanup, with approximately 8,200 participants in total. We will collect feedback over the next couple of weeks, and then the numbers of those who participated more comprehensively in the digital cleanup will be revealed," said Liina Vakroom, coordinator of the digital cleanup week at the Tartu Environmental Education Center.

Similar to last year's digital cleanup, alongside the deletion of digital waste, the focus this year was on the return of old digital equipment. On the Digital Cleanup Day website alone, participants pledged to give away nearly 10,000 old devices.