mass balance

Noun

mass balance (countable and uncountable, plural mass balances)

1. (countable) An application of conservation of mass to the analysis of physical systems, taking into account the material that enters and leaves a system.

   Synonyms:

   material balance

2. A system in which products can be labelled as sustainable or as fairtrade regardless of the background of the materials used to make the product, as long as the manufacturer has paid for an equivalent quantity of sustainable or fairtrade materials to enter the supply chain.
   • More recently, Better Cotton and Fair Trade have also adopted a mass balance system (which means if you have bought Better Cotton from farmers, then you don't need to use it in your system but can claim credit for it in conventional cotton use) in order to increase uptake of certified produce so...2019, Bimal Arora, Pawan Budhwar, Divya Jyoti, Business Responsibility and Sustainability in India, page 153