248
Keywords Material fl ow analysis • Material fl ow accounting • MFA • Waste management and recycling • Statistics • Input-output analysis • Socio-economic metabolism • Circular economy
1 Introduction – Historical and Institutional Perspectives
This chapter reviews the recent progress in methodologies and applications of material fl ow analysis ( MFA ) with emphasis on waste management and recycling perspective. An overview of the progress of economy-wide MFA can be found in a
recent review by Fischer-Kowalski et al. ( 2011 ).
Robert Ayres and Allen Kneese presented the fi rst version of what would become
MFA of national economies as early as in 1969 (Ayres and Kneese 1969 ) (see Chap.
1 ). Ayres subsequently edited two books on resource accounting (Ayres and Ayres
1998 , 1999 ) as well as a handbook of industrial ecology (Ayres and Ayres 2002 ).
The section on MFA of this handbook (Bringezu and Moriguchi 2002 ) begins with
the sentence, “understanding the structure and functioning of the industrial or societal metabolism is at the core of industrial ecology,” followed by the defi nition that
“Material fl ow analysis (MFA) refers to the analysis of the throughput of process
chains comprising extraction or harvest, chemical transformation, manufacturing,
consumption, recycling and disposal of materials.” Approaches for quantifying the
metabolism of physical economies were comprehensively reviewed by Daniels and
his colleagues (Daniels and Moore 2001 ; Daniels 2002 ).
Looking back on the last two decades, ConAccount, a network of institutions and
experts working on MFA , has played a key role in the progress of MFA (Moriguchi
2007 ). ConAccount started in May 1996 as a concerted action entitled “Coordination
of Regional and National Material Flow Accounting for Environmental
Sustainability .” ConAccount convened several times, mainly in Europe. More
recently, it was integrated into the International Society of Industrial Ecology (ISIE)
as a section, now entitled Socio-Economic Metabolism (SEM) (see also Chap. 6 ).
In addition to national accounting of material fl ows, MFA has been increasingly
used as a basis for analyzing and planning waste management and recycling systems. By search on the Web of Science (“material fl ow analysis” and “waste or
recycling”), more than 300 articles that used an MFA approach for analyzing waste
and recycling issues were found. Publications in these areas started in the late 1990s
and the number has gradually increased, to reach more than 50 in 2014. The citations in each year have also increased up to 800 in 2014 with about 11 average
citations per article. The number of articles and their citation is expected to expand
further. In addition to Journal of Industrial Ecology, many articles are found in journals such as Resources, Conservation and Recycling , Environmental Science and
Technology , Waste Management , and Waste Management and Research .
The following sections review the empirical studies of MFA for waste management and recycling from the viewpoint of target wastes and systems and MFAY. Moriguchi and S. Hashimoto
Keywords Material fl ow analysis • Material fl ow accounting • MFA • Waste management and recycling • Statistics • Input-output analysis • Socio-economic metabolism • Circular economy
1 Introduction – Historical and Institutional Perspectives
This chapter reviews the recent progress in methodologies and applications of material fl ow analysis ( MFA ) with emphasis on waste management and recycling perspective. An overview of the progress of economy-wide MFA can be found in a
recent review by Fischer-Kowalski et al. ( 2011 ).
Robert Ayres and Allen Kneese presented the fi rst version of what would become
MFA of national economies as early as in 1969 (Ayres and Kneese 1969 ) (see Chap.
1 ). Ayres subsequently edited two books on resource accounting (Ayres and Ayres
1998 , 1999 ) as well as a handbook of industrial ecology (Ayres and Ayres 2002 ).
The section on MFA of this handbook (Bringezu and Moriguchi 2002 ) begins with
the sentence, “understanding the structure and functioning of the industrial or societal metabolism is at the core of industrial ecology,” followed by the defi nition that
“Material fl ow analysis (MFA) refers to the analysis of the throughput of process
chains comprising extraction or harvest, chemical transformation, manufacturing,
consumption, recycling and disposal of materials.” Approaches for quantifying the
metabolism of physical economies were comprehensively reviewed by Daniels and
his colleagues (Daniels and Moore 2001 ; Daniels 2002 ).
Looking back on the last two decades, ConAccount, a network of institutions and
experts working on MFA , has played a key role in the progress of MFA (Moriguchi
2007 ). ConAccount started in May 1996 as a concerted action entitled “Coordination
of Regional and National Material Flow Accounting for Environmental
Sustainability .” ConAccount convened several times, mainly in Europe. More
recently, it was integrated into the International Society of Industrial Ecology (ISIE)
as a section, now entitled Socio-Economic Metabolism (SEM) (see also Chap. 6 ).
In addition to national accounting of material fl ows, MFA has been increasingly
used as a basis for analyzing and planning waste management and recycling systems. By search on the Web of Science (“material fl ow analysis” and “waste or
recycling”), more than 300 articles that used an MFA approach for analyzing waste
and recycling issues were found. Publications in these areas started in the late 1990s
and the number has gradually increased, to reach more than 50 in 2014. The citations in each year have also increased up to 800 in 2014 with about 11 average
citations per article. The number of articles and their citation is expected to expand
further. In addition to Journal of Industrial Ecology, many articles are found in journals such as Resources, Conservation and Recycling , Environmental Science and
Technology , Waste Management , and Waste Management and Research .
The following sections review the empirical studies of MFA for waste management and recycling from the viewpoint of target wastes and systems and MFAY. Moriguchi and S. Hashimoto