ABSTRACT
How far are these visions from today’s reality? Much methodological development has been undertaken, particularly in modeling flows and stocks, and in the field of evaluation of MFA results. MFA is applied in diverse areas such as industrial ecology, environmental management and protection, resource management, and waste management. It is a basis for life-cycle assessments, ecobalancing, environmental impact statements, and waste-management concepts. Several groups around the world routinely apply MFA for these tasks. Much data have been collected in studies ranging from polyvinyl chloride accounting, to heavy metal inventories, to nutrient balances of large watersheds.
