Lexmark Corporate Cartridge FAQs | Lexmark Belgium

Lexmark Corporate Cartridge FAQs

What is a Corporate Cartridge?

Designed and developed for maximum sustainability benefits, Lexmark’s Corporate Cartridge product line is driven by our commitment to corporate social responsibility and guided by the principles of zero waste and the circular economy. Lexmark’s A4 CS/CX and MS/MX Corporate Cartridges further advance the sustainability innovations delivered by the Unison toner print system. They are manufactured in the EU ensuring consistent product availability and providing social and environmental benefits to the local economy.

The Corporate Cartridge contains only genuine Lexmark components meeting Lexmark’s design specifications for print quality and reliability. Designated components may have been selectively recovered through Lexmark’s cartridge collection and recycling program.

What are the similarities and differences between the Corporate Cartridge and the Return Programme Cartridge?

Both the Corporate Cartridge and the Return Programme Cartridge offer the same level of quality, performance, and warranty. Both are made entirely from genuine Lexmark parts and processes and are subjected to the same rigorous Lexmark quality and performance testing. Both were designed with the environment in mind. In exchange for an upfront discount, both require the customer to return the empty cartridge to Lexmark via the free and easy to use Lexmark Cartridge Collection Program (LCCP).   

The Corporate Cartridge further extends the sustainability benefits of the Return Programme cartridges by closing the loop during its production through the incorporation of select components returned via the LCCP.

Why is Lexmark making this announcement?

Lexmark is providing our SMB customers with products that were previously only available to our Large Account Customers. Lexmark’s A4 CS/CX and MS/MX Corporate Cartridges extend the sustainability benefits of the Unison print system, while still providing the print performance, reliability and quality customers expect from Lexmark.

Are the Corporate cartridges a new range of products?

Lexmark previously offered Corporate Cartridges for the most popular monochrome (and a few select colour) printers and the most popular yields - only for Large Accounts. 

Why is Lexmark proposing these products only on CS/CX & MS/MX devices?

The Unison print system utilized for the A4 CS/CX and MS/MX devices delivered many sustainability innovations including a more durable, robust toner cartridge design. Unison toner’s lower friction properties also allowed for longer life imaging components and a multi-pc. design. Additionally, Lexmark invested in European production of the toner cartridges. With its entire product life cycle within the EU driving social and environmental benefits, Lexmark’s most sustainable supplies offering yet - the A4 CS/CX and MS/MX Corporate Cartridges - are now available to all customers. 

Why are there no Corporate cartridges for some Lexmark devices (C74x, C95x, X86x…)?

In the future, Lexmark would like to offer benefits of the Corporate Cartridges on more models.  Lexmark is incorporating more circular economy and zero waste thinking earlier in our development process to enable expansion of the Corporate Cartridge offer. With the A4 CS/CX and MS/MX Corporate Cartridges we’re off to a great start. 

Do we have specific price and guarantee for these Corporate Cartridges?

The Corporate Cartridges provide the same level of quality and performance as the Return Programme Cartridge together with a lower environmental impact and thus have the same competitive price. Additionally, the Corporate Cartridges offer the same Limited Lifetime Guarantee as the Return Programme Cartridges.

What are the similarities and differences between a third party remanufactured cartridge and a Corporate Cartridge?  Is the Corporate Cartridge a remanufactured cartridge?

The similarities between a third party remanufactured cartridges and a Corporate Cartridge are that both include the use of some post-consumer material recovered through a cartridge collection program.  But that’s where the similarities end. 

In the last three years alone, Lexmark has invested more than $1B USD to research, develop, and advance its printing and imaging technology including the Unison print system. The Corporate Cartridge is an output of this effort and contains only genuine Lexmark components meeting Lexmark’s design specifications for print quality and reliability. The same Lexmark engineering team and Lexmark production processes are used to qualify and produce the Return Programme and Corporate Cartridges. Additionally, Corporate Cartridges are manufactured in the EU. This ensures consistent product availability, minimizes supply chain environmental impact and maintains production within the local economy.

Third party remanufacturers provide products for many multiples of products and brands (some for more than 100 brands). And while they tout the environmental aspects of their products, many don’t have collection programs for their own empty cartridges to responsibly handle eventual end of life. Additionally, product performance and reliability from third party remanufacturers has repeatedly been shown to be inferior compared to Lexmark. (http://www.lexmark.com/en_be/products/supplies-and-accessories/genuine-lexmark-supplies---bli-report.html)

Given the past performance of third party remanufactured products, Lexmark focuses on the fact that the Corporate Cartridge contains all genuine Lexmark components, processes, and testing along with the same performance and reliability guarantee for all of our supplies products - not whether the Corporate Cartridge should be labeled as remanufactured or not. 

Why is Lexmark offering these Corporate cartridges to SMBs now?

Lexmark has taken the opportunity to provide our SMB customers with products that were previously only available to our Large Account Customers. The Corporate Cartridges extend the sustainability benefits of the Unison print system, while still providing the print performance, reliability and s customer expect from Lexmark.

Will the Corporate cartridges always contain some reused content?

Corporate Cartridges will not always contain reused content - but we’re working in that direction.

For material returned via LCCP, we strive for the top levels of the standard environmental hierarchy. Landfill disposal and incineration are the least desirable options. Recycling is a good option, while reuse produces the greatest sustainability benefit. Lexmark has a zero-landfill and zero-incineration policy for all used cartridges that we collect. Furthermore, we’ve established a target to reuse 50% by weight of the material returned via LCCP (from an already industry leading 32% in 2013).

Do other OEM’s offer their own version of a Corporate cartridge?

While some OEM’s have products with post-consumer content, we’re not aware of any OEM’s with an offer similar to the Corporate Cartridge.