When was the last time you emptied your email trash? Throughout the world, there are hundreds of thousands of emails in trash folders contributing to digital pollution. Digital pollution causes around 4% of all global greenhouse effects, an effect similar to civil aviation. But it is still not a growing concern for the general public.

Or wasn’t. A campaign by BETC and French design studio, Soixante Circuits, intends to rid the world of undeleted emails and raise awareness of digital waste. The partners have created an IRL Trashcan that cleans phones of emails in trash.

The trashcan, made for small and large businesses, is actually a small computer, connected on the local WIFI network, that synchronises in real-time hundreds of employees email accounts. Employees can hold their phone near the NFC sensor of the IRL Trashcan, which will immediately delete all the emails stored in their email trash. IRL Trashcan is already in place within companies involved in the initial program and is available for their employees.

With this innovation, Soixante Circuits and BETC hope to raise people’s awareness about their digital carbon footprint. To get companies from all over the world on board, Soixante Circuits and BETC have decided to make the device available to all.

“We believe that it is by a commitment from the largest number of people possible that we will finally raise awareness around the issue of digital waste.” say the inventors. The entire workflow is available for free on https://www.irltrashcan.soixantecircuits.fr/.