What is digital pollution?
Digital pollution refers to the negative environmental footprint linked to the life cycle of devices and technologies necessary for work in the company. The harmful impacts on the environment relating to digital pollution concern, among others:
excessive consumption of electrical energy,
the production of electronic waste,
the disruption of biodiversity.
Digital pollution also concerns greenhouse gas emissions linked to the use of technological devices .
How does digital pollution manifest?
Digital pollution is noticed at the level of production, use and end of life of the electronic and IT equipment used.
The impact of the production of technological devices on the environment
To produce a computer or a television, we need non-renewable metals (lithium, cerium, tantalum, aluminum, etc.) from mining. A large amount of fossil energy is used to extract raw materials, which produces greenhouse gases. Extraction produces toxic waste that is often poorly managed. This can pollute the soil, air and surrounding water points and therefore disrupt biodiversity.
For the production and transport of devices to consumers, fossil fuels will also be used: coal, oil and gas. The environmental footprint is considerable. For example, the production and transportation of a laptop made in China is estimated to produce an average of 940 kg of CO2 emissions.
The ecological footprint of the use of digital accessories
This concerns the significant consumption of electrical energy generated by the daily use of digital technology for the company's activities. The electricity used to operate digital devices and the internet is mainly of fossil origin.
Queries on a search engine or a cloud environment, consultation of video content are all factors accentuating digital pollution within the company . Sending emails also constitutes a significant source of technological pollution at the corporate level.
End of life of equipment
There is also the production of digital pollution when computer accessories that have reached the end of their life escape the recycling process. The complex composition of technological accessories does not promote adequate recycling.
For a computer that is made of more than 50 different materials and present in very small quantities, recycling electronic waste is often not economically profitable.
The fight against digital pollution in societies
It is important to avoid CO2 emissions and excessive consumption of electrical energy linked to digital activity in business . To do this, all stakeholders in society must adhere to the chosen control actions. This will involve defining and implementing a coherent and comprehensive action plan for this purpose.
Staff awareness
From employees to the management team, everyone must master the challenges of combating digital pollution for business activity. It is about uniting employees around a common ideal through eco-responsible awareness. This allows everyone to fully play their role at their level in a proactive manner to limit the impact of digital technology on the environment.
For example, it is possible to encourage employees to avoid sending attachments that are too large for emailing. Storing exchanged emails and coins requires high electrical energy consumption. According to ADEME, the energy consumption of sending an email with a 1 MB attachment is equal to that of running a 60 watt lamp for 25 minutes.
Old emails should be completely deleted and unnecessary emails should be avoided. Employees should also unsubscribe from non-essential newsletters. Ethical search engines like Écosia or Lilo should be favored for searching for information. Meetings by videoconference must also be reduced as much as possible, as this involves significant fossil energy consumption each time.
Better management of IT equipment
The real needs of each employee regarding work computer equipment must be known and monitored over time by a specialized manager. As long as the computer, tablet, printer, or company phone is in good condition and not obsolete, there is no reason to change the equipment. When devices are defective, the first thought should be repair, if possible. With good preventive maintenance, many cases of equipment failure can be avoided.
By moderating the renewal of the company's IT equipment, it is possible to halve your impact on the environment. This will ultimately make it possible to limit the production of new digital accessories which cause nearly 80% of overall digital pollution. If your company is used to changing IT hardware every 24 months, it would now be wise to do so every 48 months.
It is also important to choose equipment that consumes little electricity for the work. You should not hesitate to seek advice from a professional for this purpose. When possible, we will, for example, prefer laptops which have an annual CO2 footprint that is half that of desktop PCs. When an accessory is not in use, it should be turned off to avoid consuming electricity .
Reviewed by alien4tech
on
December 02, 2023
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