Lexmark Uses App to Collect Tens of Thousands of Empties

More than 60,000 empty cartridges have been collected in the last 12 months, by Lexmark in South Africa thanks to a consumer friendly App.

Developed less than 2 years ago, the mobile app is available for Android and iOS devices in English, French and German. It’s a free service designed for Lexmark customers across Europe, the Middle East and Africa who want to see their empty Lexmark ink and toner cartridges reused or recycled.

The Lexmark Cartridge Collection Program (LCCP) has become hugely popular in South Africa. Once registered, customers are able to use the App to order recycling containers. Then they scan a QR code on these containers for a free collection.

Nathan Nayagar, Managing Director of Lexmark South Africa and English-speaking Africa claims the program “has been a great success” mainly due to ease of use.  “Although the LCCP is still in its early days,” he reports, “the growth rate has been satisfying.”

Lexmark collects, on average, 4,000 recyclable cartridges per month; a critical amount considering it takes 1,000 years for an ink or toner cartridge to decompose in a landfill. According to Nayagar, Lexmark South Africa previously ran the Cartridge Recycling Initiative for Babies (CRIB). Lexmark recovered empty inkjet cartridges from its customers, recycled them, and made a valuable contribution to a charity that offers care to suffering children throughout South Africa.

Nayagar says the new cartridge collection procedure is much more simplified and “empowers businesses to save time and money through the streamlining of their recycling processes. Customers who sign up to the LCCP can also receive benefits in the form of discounts on purchases of Return Program Cartridges and Lexmark Corporate Cartridges, the company’s most sustainable line of cartridges, containing up to 90% reused components.”

The app is expected to encourage new LCCP registrations and drive the conversion of web users because of its time efficiency.

Lexmark claims it is “dedicated to environmentally friendly business practices.” According to its website, it encourages its customers to do their part in the recycling of cartridges. Indeed, all cartridges collected by Lexmark are fully reused or recycled meaning no landfill waste and zero incineration. Since 1996, Lexmark has reused over 21 million kg of recovered cartridge material. Furthermore, a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study establishes that sending a used Lexmark toner cartridge back for recycling, reduces the carbon footprint by up to 50%.