diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index 489019ff..b89e8a7d 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -155,3 +155,5 @@ pyvenv.cfg
 
 # ADIT specific
 .dicoms
+backups/*
+!backups/.gitkeep
diff --git a/backups/.gitkeep b/backups/.gitkeep
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..896588f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/backups/.gitkeep
@@ -0,0 +1,4 @@
+# Directory to keep database backups
+
+Database backups are done every night at 3 am by a periodic task using the dbbackup management command.
+The dbbackup command can be called manually with `./manage.py dbbackup` (uses the django-dbbackup app).
diff --git a/compose/docker-compose.base.yml b/compose/docker-compose.base.yml
index aba996a9..a28d9da2 100644
--- a/compose/docker-compose.base.yml
+++ b/compose/docker-compose.base.yml
@@ -1,12 +1,13 @@
 x-app: &default-app
   volumes:
-    - /mnt:/mnt
+    - ../backups:/backups
   depends_on:
     - postgres
   environment:
     USE_DOCKER: 1
     PROJECT_VERSION: ${PROJECT_VERSION:-vX.Y.Z}
     DATABASE_URL: "psql://postgres:postgres@postgres.local:5432/postgres"
+    BACKUP_DIR: "/backups"
     DJANGO_STATIC_ROOT: "/var/www/web/static/"
     ORTHANC1_HOST: "orthanc1.local"
     ORTHANC1_HTTP_PORT: 6501
@@ -27,7 +28,7 @@ services:
     hostname: init.local
     volumes:
       - web_data:/var/www/web
-      - /mnt:/mnt
+      - ../backups:/backups
 
   web:
     <<: *default-app
@@ -36,7 +37,7 @@ services:
       context: ..
     volumes:
       - web_data:/var/www/web
-      - /mnt:/mnt
+      - ../backups:/backups
 
   postgres:
     image: postgres:13.16
diff --git a/example.env b/example.env
index e29776f1..48087177 100644
--- a/example.env
+++ b/example.env
@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ ADMIN_USERNAME=admin
 ADMIN_PASSWORD=mysecret
 ADMIN_FULL_NAME="Wilhelm Roentgen"
 ADMIN_EMAIL=wilhelm.roentgen@example.org
-BACKUP_DIR=/mnt/backups
 DJANGO_ALLOWED_HOSTS=localhost,127.0.0.1
 DJANGO_CSRF_TRUSTED_ORIGINS=
 DJANGO_EMAIL_HOST=smtp.email.test