Lexmark releases 2018 CSR report

Lexmark has released the 2018 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Report, highlighting Lexmark CSR focus areas and accomplishments across the business worldwide.

"The 2018 Lexmark CSR Report once again highlights all the great work that is being done by Lexmark employees around the world each and every day,” said John Gagel, senior manager, global corporate sustainability.

“Meeting or exceeding many of our sustainability goals two years early is an awesome accomplishment that could not have been achieved without the dedication and focus of our global team. We are very excited about what the future holds for Lexmark and our efforts to further broaden our sustainability and social responsibility efforts.”

Water management

One of our biggest successes in 2018 came in the reduction of water usage at our global sites. Water is used as part of Lexmark operations for three primary purposes: manufacturing and development; heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems; and sanitation.

Our goal was to reduce water withdrawal (drawn from a surface water or groundwater source) at our global sites by 8% from 2015 to 2020. In 2018, we achieved a 20% reduction, largely thanks to efforts in Juarez and Lexington.

In Juarez, our site expanded its efforts to re-use water in 2018. Water used in HVAC equipment, toner fill operations and cartridge production as well as reject water from the reverse osmosis equipment (specialised process for filtering water) in the main cafeteria was re-used for irrigation. Additionally, cooling tower basins were disconnected and isolated to help prevent water loss from evaporation, among other efforts.

“Water is a scarce resource in our desert environment, therefore a significant effort has been developed in the last five years as a part of our Campus Sustainability Program to reduce water consumption in all our processes,” said Alejandro Arenas Gonzalez, campus technical services manager, Juarez. “Our sustainability team, integrated to include engineering, maintenance and operations, has successfully implemented strategies that have driven outstanding results, reducing water consumption by 42% over the past three years. We look forward to continually improving on this important sustainability goal.”

In Lexington, a rainwater harvesting system was implemented on site in 2018. Four million gallons of the collected water were used at the utility plant cooling towers that support cooling the site. So far in 2019, more than 5 million gallons of rainwater have been used.

To build on our global success, Lexmark has set a 30% water withdrawal reduction goal from 2015 to 2030. 

Key performance indicators

Some other 2018 highlights from the key performance indicators:

• Waste recycling: In 2018, we met our goal to maintain a minimum of 75% recycling rate for waste generated.
• Energy: Our goal was to reduce energy consumption 10% from 2015 to 2020. In 2018, we achieved a 13% reduction.
• Materials: Our goal was to increase post-consumer recycled (PCR) plastic in branded, in-house technology printers and MFPs to 20% over weight of total plastic by 2020. In 2018, we achieved 27% PCR plastic. 

Find more information on Lexmark’s Global Citizenship, now updated with 2018 data and available as a downloadable 2018 CSR Report.