DCW (Digital Cleanup Week)—A Challenge from Keio Students to Reduce "Digital Waste"

Are you familiar with the term "digital waste"? Data centers constantly consume electricity to store unnecessary emails and old files that we save without thinking. This is what is known as "digital waste".  Deleting these files leads directly to power reduction and has the potential to contribute significantly to environmental improvement.

The project began when one of the members learned about the environmental burden of digitalization in an SFC (Shonan Fujisawa Campus)  class and shared the idea of making it one of the proposals for the Keio University Student Conference. At the same time, the project leader had also realized the existence of vast amounts of unnecessary files through the production of newsletters for the Athletic Association Jyunko Baseball Club. These shared concerns culminated in the launch of the project.

The fundamental philosophy of the activity is to spread awareness of digital waste among Keio students and faculty/staff, and to reduce electricity and CO₂ emissions across Keio University as a whole. Specifically, the goal is to reduce Google Drive usage from 1.97 PB (petabytes) as of 2025 to 1.5 PB by 2050, and to increase the percentage of people who understand and manage their own data volume from the current 40.4% to 80%. In the short term, the project aims for a 1% data reduction annually and a total of 1,500 event participants.

The direct approach toward the aforementioned goals is "DCW (Digital Cleanup Week)". It was held over five days from July 6th to 10th in the courtyard of the Hiyoshi Campus. At the event, members explained the concept of digital waste to people passing through the campus and provided face-to-face support at a booth for deleting unnecessary files on participants' devices. It was a unique initiative where participants who deleted more than 1MB of data were given a KitKat, with the wish that "Surely (Kitto) your unnecessary data can be cut (Kat) too".

Moving forward, the policy is to expand the scope of activities not only to Keio students but also to faculty and staff, working as one Keio University to optimize the digital environment. The members envision a future where the awareness of deleting digital waste becomes common practice, accelerating the movement to protect the environment across the entire Juku.

"Let's reduce digital waste and create a cleaner Keio together."

What exactly are the SDGs? While many people may have heard the term itself, there are surprisingly many who do not fully understand the details. This reporter was one of them. Perhaps the problem with the SDGs is that they feel like issues far removed from oneself, making it difficult to have a sense of personal involvement. Through this interview, I felt that DCW is a catchy project that encourages students who may not have a full understanding to take ownership of the SDGs and contribute easily. The fact that many students actually showed interest in digital waste and operated their devices to delete unnecessary data was the best proof of this. Taking this opportunity, as a global citizen, I sincerely hope that the future of the Juku, and indeed the entire planet, moves in a slightly better direction.

*Please refer to the link below for other projects conducted by the Keio University Student Conference.