A product is an Activity output with a positive market or non-market value (utility). This fundamental definition distinguishes products from other activity outputs, such as waste materials, by their inherent value or usefulness to economic actors or society.
The concept of product in Life Cycle Assessment extends beyond conventional market-traded items to encompass any output that provides utility, whether or not it is exchanged in a marketplace. This broader definition ensures that LCA captures the full spectrum of valuable outputs from human activities, including those that occur within households or organisations without formal market transactions.
Products are subdivided into two main categories based on their physical characteristics. Goods are tangible products with mass, such as manufactured items, raw materials, and physical commodities. Services are intangible products without mass, such as transportation, information provision, or labour services. This distinction is important for LCA modelling, as goods and services often have different types of environmental burdens and system boundaries.
Non-market products represent an important category within the product definition. These are outputs with positive utility that are not directly bought or sold in markets, and therefore lack observable monetary values. Examples include household childcare services provided by family members, internal by-products generated within industrial processes that are later transformed into marketable products, and ecosystem services. The recognition of non-market products ensures that LCA does not overlook valuable outputs simply because they lack market prices.
Within product systems, products of one activity frequently serve as intermediate inputs to another activity. This interconnection creates the chains and networks that Life Cycle Assessment seeks to model and evaluate, tracing environmental impacts through successive transformations from raw material extraction through to final product delivery and disposal.
