A speciality production is an Activity that requires a Material for treatment as an input, but which is not a dedicated treatment activity. This means it has a positive Determining product rather than operating primarily as a waste treatment service.
In standard Life Cycle Assessment practice, activities are typically classified as either production activities or treatment activities. Production activities generate products with positive market or non-market value, whilst treatment activities provide disposal or processing services for materials that require handling. Speciality production represents a hybrid category that bridges these two classifications.
The defining characteristic of speciality production is that it creates value from materials that would otherwise require treatment or disposal. Unlike a dedicated treatment activity, which has a negative reference product and is paid to accept waste materials, a speciality production activity generates a conventional product output that drives its production volume. The use of materials for treatment as inputs is secondary to this primary production function.
Common examples of speciality production include cement kilns that use waste-derived fuels, industrial processes that incorporate recycled materials as feedstock alongside virgin materials, or manufacturing operations that utilise by-products from other industries as raw material inputs. In each case, the activity's production decisions are determined by demand for its primary product output, not by the availability of waste materials requiring treatment.
This distinction is important in consequential LCA modelling, where understanding what drives an activity's production volume is essential for determining which activities will be affected by changes in demand. A speciality production activity responds to market signals for its determining product, even though it may provide the beneficial service of consuming materials that would otherwise require dedicated treatment.
