Lexmark

Some OEM (original) cartridge manufactures don’t like the remanufacturing industry recycling their cartridges and reselling them to customers at a lower rate. The most obvious example would be Lexmark who make their cartridges very difficult to remanufacture. Lexmark don’t won’t the cartridge remanufacturing industry refurbishing their cartridges or you buying a compatible Lexmark cartridge whether it be an ink cartridge or toner cartridge. They have introduced their return program scheme to further eliminate their cartridges being recycled and put it under the guise of recycling. Lexmark return and non return program cartridges are exactly the same except the non-return program cartridge is significantly more expensive. Some retailers have stopped selling the non-return program Lexmark cartridges as there’s no point. It only serves to confuse and baffle the customer.

Lexmark also continue their onslaught by including many different page yields for some of their printer consumable ranges. With up to four different page yield cartridges – standard – high – extra high and extra extra high – combined with the option of having each cartridge as a return or non-return program cartridge the choice can be overwhelming and completely unnecessary. These Lexmark cartridges can all hold the same yield but are filled to different levels and sold at a premium. This is an incredible waste of materials and actually promotes plastics being sent to landfill which take hundreds of years to decompose. The actual cost of toner is minuscule yet Lexmark overcharge massively for something which costs them pennies to do.

HP

HP recognise the remanufacturing industry and take a much more pro-active approach to their cartridges being remanufactured. Their cartridges also offer more value to the customer while promoting the use of recycled materials and products at the same time. To put it in a nutshell HP additionally beat Lexmark every time in terms of quality, cost and remanufacturing.  Even HP’s packaging is more environmentally conscious with the use of cardboard much more prevalent than Lexmark’s. The author understands that this is a biased view point but has based this decision on the experience gained working within the printing consumables industry for four years.

To take a look at our HP ink cartridge and toner cartridge range please use these links:

HP Toner Cartridges

HP Ink Cartridges

To view our Lexmark ink cartridge and toner cartridge range please use these links:

Lexmark Toner Cartridges

Lexmark Ink Cartridges