Humans are dumping so much rubbish. Digital rubbish is insidious because it can’t be seen. Millions of unnecessary photos are stored in the cloud. With 7.4 billion smartphones in use worldwide, storing digital content has a significant environmental cost. In the UK, the average person takes about five digital photos per day – and across the population, this generates over 800,000 tonnes of carbon annually, comparable to flying from London to New York nearly a million times.
M+C Saatchi Group UK and Bauer Media Outdoor have partnered with environmental charity, Let’s Do It World, to launch Not on myPhone, a new national campaign encouraging people to delete unwanted photos from their phones and reduce the hidden carbon footprint of digital storage. The campaign launched on Digital Cleanup Day 2026, reframing the invisible issue through a simple behavioural prompt – take 30 minutes to clean up your phone. Deleting approximately 100 photos and a couple of videos equates to the CO2 production of a 1km drive by car.
At the heart of the work is the Not on myPhone creative concept, that plays with a familiar aesthetic. Instead of showcasing beautiful photography, the campaign features the chaotic reality of people’s camera rolls: blurry pictures, duplicate selfies, screenshots and random receipts that most of us never look at again. These images were crowdsourced from real people’s camera rolls and transformed into high-impact outdoor posters. Every image featured has now been deleted and the campaign will delete itself after 48 hours, when the DOOH media is taken down.
The activity also connects with the wider Digital Cleanup Day global campaign led by Let’s Do It World. Since 2020, 175 different countries have taken part and over 1.7 million people have deleted over 16.8 million GB of data, preventing the yearly production of around 3,360 tons of C02.
The campaign is running on large-format premium DOOH sites donated by Bauer Media Outdoor in UK locations including London, Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh, positioned near major train stations and on busy roads to encourage commuters to delete unwanted photos. Running entirely pro bono, the activity is supported by social content and the wider Let’s Do It World movement, encouraging people to share the message using #NotOnMyPhone. Additional media placements have also been secured in South Africa, Dubai and Brazil through M+C Saatchi’s international network.
Heidi Solba, president and head of global network of Let’s Do It World, stated, “Digital pollution is a growing issue that most people never think about. Every photo, screenshot and duplicate image stored in the cloud requires energy to maintain. Digital Cleanup Day encourages people to take small but meaningful actions to reduce their digital carbon footprint. ‘Not on myPhone’ helps make this massive problem visible and shows how simple behaviour changes can make a real difference.”
Guy Bradbury, creative partner at M+C Saatchi Group UK, added, “Most of us have thousands of photos on our phones we will never look at again. We store them without giving it a second thought, or a thought for the energy it takes to keep them sitting on a server somewhere. Created in partnership with Bauer Media, this iconic campaign gets people to look again, driving behaviour change and encouraging the nation to take 30 minutes to clean up their carbon cloud.”
Louise Stubbings, partnerships and creative director at Bauer Media Outdoor UK, commented, “Digital sustainability is an issue that affects all of us, yet we often don’t feel any personal responsibility for it. By donating some of our most impactful digital outdoor sites to the ‘Not on myPhone’ campaign, we hope to help bring this hidden carbon cost into public view in a way that’s relatable, accessible, and behaviour changing.”
Credits
Agency: M+C Saatchi Group UK
Robert Doubal: Global Chief Creative Officer
Laurence Thomson: Global Chief Creative Officer
Guy Bradbury: Creative Partner
Lisa Carrana: Executive Head of Art
Richard Morgan: Creative Director
Tupelo Browne: Creative
Jon Farley & Alex Lucas: Creative Directors
Lisa Wheeler: Project Director
Katie Mandel: Senior Account Director
Elise Goodwin: Account Director
Andy Herris: Head of Design
Paul Venn: Designer
Tom Firth: Managing Director
Amaya Alvarez: Managing Director
UK Partner: Bauer Media Outdoor UK
Louise Stubbings, Partnerships and Creative Director
Henry Moffett, Creative Agency Partner
Jake Bester, Chief Creative Officer, M+C Saatchi Abel
Marvin Kgasoane, Chief Creative Officer, Connect
Leo Avila, Chief Creative Officer, M+C Saatchi Santa Clara
Italo Vetorazzo, VP of Growth, M+C Saatchi Santa Clara
Ryan Reed: Chief Creative Officer, M+C Saatchi Dubai
Natalie Cooke: Chief Client Partner, M+C Saatchi Dubai
Ziad AlHalabi – Designer, M+C Saatchi Dubai
Ali Mohammad: Arabic Writer, Designer, M+C Saatchi Dubai
Ramesh Vasudevan: Finalizer, Designer, M+C Saatchi Dubai
Natale Panella: Head of Digital, Fusion5
