In recent years the reduction of material flow has become a crucial point and general goal of policies for sustainability. The CLOSED project aims at promoting and directly applying this approach to the three industrial districts taken into account through a series of analytical and intervention tools. One of the most important of these tools is the Material Flow Accounting that analyses resource extraction and utilization. In brief, the physical organization of the anthropic system and the extraction and utilization of material by humans are such in terms of magnitude, quality and composition that, at this time it is impossible for man to return correctly used materials on a massive scale. It is also impossible for nature to absorb all the wastes. In other words, we cannot continue to put materials back into their cycles without their undergoing significant changes. From this standpoint the magnitude of material moved can be considered a good indicator of the potential global disruption imposed on natural cycles by human activities. The MFA conducted for the three districts is, therefore, a tool for assessing that disruption.

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