diff --git a/gitlab/build.sh b/gitlab/build.sh
index 214531a6c6aa020b5de232a49aea41c9ab822b50..c93f4ab20f607e456fae86f3f4593f8245db7892 100755
--- a/gitlab/build.sh
+++ b/gitlab/build.sh
@@ -29,9 +29,5 @@ run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda build --no-anaconda-upload --variant-config-file
 # over and over. See https://gitlab.idiap.ch/bob/bob.admin/issues/65
 run_cmd rm -rf ${CONDA_ROOT}/pkgs/bob*.tar.bz2
 
-# remove environments create by conda-build.
-run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda build purge
-
-# remove un-used cached conda packages (extracted directories in pkgs/) so that
-# builds take less space. This does not delete the tarballs.
-run_cmd ${CONDA_ROOT}/bin/conda clean --packages
+# run git clean to clean everything that is not needed
+run_cmd git clean -ffdx --exclude=miniconda.sh --exclude="${CONDA_ROOT}/pkgs/*.tar.bz2" --exclude=${CONDA_ROOT}/pkgs/urls.txt --exclude=_ci --exclude="${CONDA_ROOT}/conda-bld/linux-64/*.tar.bz2" --exclude="${CONDA_ROOT}/conda-bld/osx-64/*.tar.bz2" --exclude="dist/*.zip" --exclude=sphinx