Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounting: Application in the Italian Glass Industry

Salik Ahmed, Marco Ciro Liscio (), Andrea Pelaggi, Paolo Sospiro, Irene Voukkali and Antonis A. Zorpas
Additional contact information
Salik Ahmed: EUAbout, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
Marco Ciro Liscio: EUAbout, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
Andrea Pelaggi: EUAbout, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
Paolo Sospiro: EUAbout, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium
Irene Voukkali: Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, Giannou Kranidioti 89, Latsia 2231, Cyprus
Antonis A. Zorpas: Laboratory of Chemical Engineering and Engineering Sustainability, Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences, Open University of Cyprus, Giannou Kranidioti 89, Latsia 2231, Cyprus

Sustainability, 2025, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-18

Abstract: Italy supplies about one-seventh of the European Union’s total glass production, and the sector’s sizeable resource demands make it a linchpin of national industrial strategy. With growing environmental regulations and the push for resource efficiency, Material Flow Accounting has become essential for companies to stay compliant and advance sustainability. The investigation concentrates on Italy’s glass industry to clarify its material requirements, ecological footprint, and overall sustainability performance. STAN software v2, combined with an Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounting (EW-MFA) framework, models the national economy as a single integrated input–output system. By tracking each material stream from initial extraction to end-of-life, the analysis delivers a cradle-to-grave picture of the sector’s environmental impacts. During the 2021 production year, Italy’s glass makers drew on a total of 10.5 million tonnes (Mt) of material inputs, supplied 76% (7.9 Mt) from domestic quarries, and 24% (2.6 Mt) via imports. Outbound trade in finished glass removed 1.0 Mt, leaving 9.5 Mt recorded as Domestic Material Consumption (DMC). Within that balance, 6.6 Mt (63%) was locked into long-lived stock, whereas 2.9 Mt (28%) left the system as waste streams and airborne releases, including roughly 2.1 Mt of CO 2 . At present, the post-consumer cult substitutes only one-third of the furnace batch, signalling considerable scope for improved circularity. When benchmarked against EU-27 aggregates for 2021, Italy registers a NAS/DMI ratio of 0.63 (EU median 0.55) and a DPO/DMI ratio of 0.28 (EU 0.31), indicating a higher share of material retained in stock and slightly lower waste generated per ton of input. A detailed analysis of glass production identifies critical stages, environmental challenges, and areas for improvement. Quantitative data on material use, waste generation, and recycling rates reveal the industry’s environmental footprint. The findings emphasise Economy-Wide Material Flow Accounting’s value in evaluating and improving sustainability efforts, offering insights for policymakers and industry leaders to drive resource efficiency and sustainable resource management. Results help scholars and policymakers in the analysis of the Italian glass industry context, supporting in the data gathering, while also in the use of this methodology for other sectors.

Keywords: circular economy; EW-MFA; waste management; material flow accounting; glass sector (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/6180/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/13/6180/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:13:p:6180-:d:1695427

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().