Material Flow Analysis

Material flow analysis (MFA) is a tool to quantify the flows and stocks of materials in arbitrarily complex systems. MFA has been widely applied to material systems in providing useful information regarding the patterns of resource use and the losses of materials entering the environment. MFA and life cycle assessment (LCA) are traditionally different tools for environmental decision support. The two methods are basically different with respect to the definition of system boundaries and the actual subject of investigation. However, there are also overlaps between the tools. These overlaps highlight that MFA and LCA can complement each other and thereby increase the quality of studies in both domains. Thus, the combination of these tools offers the potential for more consistent and reliable decision support in environmental and resource management.