As such, the responsible sourcing of minerals is a fundamental element of our Conflict Minerals Policy. In 2022, as is customary in our annual conflict minerals due diligence program, we requested from every supplier an updated Responsible Minerals Initiative (RMI) Conflict Minerals Reporting Template (CMRT). Zurn Elkay's due diligence program is performed in accordance with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Supply Chains of Minerals from Conflict-Affected and High-Risk Areas. We communicate our Conflict Minerals Policy to all suppliers and encourage them to adopt similar policies and undertake reasonable due diligence with respect to their own supply chains.
In addition to conflict mineral due diligence, we continually evaluate risks related to critical materials used in our products, including conflict minerals and other essential commodities (e.g., steel, plastics, copper and brass) subject to supply chain restrictions.
We seek to balance costs and risks related to shifting markets and supply pressures to ensure product availability. In 2022, we appointed a new Supply Chain Risk Management team to identify mitigation strategies and provide more focus to address supplier and material risk.
Approving multiple sources of supply, where available
Employing unique stocking strategies for key materials
Near shoring of major components to minimize supply risk
Business continuity and supplier development plans
The combination of Zurn and Elkay in 2022 created a more complex supply chain with expanded size, country locations and breadth of sourced materials/products. Guided by our core value of continuous improvement, we conducted a deep examination of our combined supply chain to find opportunities to make it more resilient and sustainable.
Our global supply chain organization includes three leadership positions dedicated to overseeing critical areas of supplier diversity, supply chain sustainability and supply chain risk. Our team is also continuing to make improvements that balance the complexities of both domestic and global supply chains as they look across the combined supplier base.
Reexamining each company’s legacy supply chain goals, KPIs and strategies also allowed us to combine the best from both firms to enhance our efforts around supply chain sustainability.
We identified 12 internal KPIs that will help guide our supplier strategy and accelerate progress toward important issues such as recyclability. For example, we strive to use sustainable materials in our manufacturing and packaging to build a durable, lasting product that reaches the consumer in good condition. To advance that goal, in 2022, we added GRI metric 301-1 as a KPI to track the total weight of both renewable and nonrenewable materials used to produce and package our products. For more information, see ESG Content Index.
As a responsible manufacturer, our products are manufactured with recycled content whenever possible. Outlined below is the average recycled content identified in some of our major product groups:
Next year our ESG Content Index will include important steps to minimize risk with new suppliers, such as auditing all new suppliers against environmental, quality and social criteria.