Which recycler do you use?
The red recycler at the Power Plant. Only runs with 18 or more Heavy Fuses in.
Need a part? The cheapest way to get it
Scrap per unit after the other outputs pay part of the bill. Zero or less means the part is free.
- BestChainsaw125 scrap · 3.75 high quality metal back-34.67scrap / unit
- 125 scrap · 3.75 high quality metal back-16.67scrap / unit
- 250 scrap · 15 high quality metal back1.67scrap / unit
Chainsaw125 scrap · Outpost: Tools & Stuff+130
Shotgun Trap150 scrap · Outpost: Weapons+63.8
Small Generator125 scrap · Outpost: Building+62.5
Small Oil Refinery125 scrap · Outpost: Building+9.25
Water Jug5 scrap · Bandit Camp: Food Market+2.50
All prices here are base shop prices. Live prices move: right after a wipe a shop charges up to 2x (a 125 scrap Chainsaw costs 250), then each item's price drifts between 0.5x and 2x on its own. Check the shop before you buy.
Everything the vendors sell, recycled at 75%
green rows pay
3.75 
1.50 
4.50 
375 
187.5 
1.50 
187.5 
0.75 
26.3 
18.8 
11.3 
15 
0.75 
3 
2.25 
0.75 
0.75 
0.75 
1.50 
2.25 
75 
0.75 
0.75 
0.75 
0.75 
0.75 
0.75 
1.50 Worth counts only outputs a vendor sells for scrap, at base price (gears 125, springs 60, pipes 30, blades 15, sheet metal 30, fragments 0.1, wood 0.02, stone 0.05, low grade 0.5). HQM, tech trash and cloth have no scrap price, so they are marked * and not counted.
The wood-for-stone swap
The Resource Exchange sells 1,000 wood for 20 scrap and 1,000 stone for 50, and swaps 150 stone for 500 wood either way. Buy stone and swap it and 1,000 wood costs 15 scrap instead of 20, a 25% saving. The other way round loses: stone via wood is 66.7 per 1,000 against 50 direct.
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Is there a scrap loop?
Not at base prices. Some shops pay scrap (Fish Exchange, and Bandit Camp's Scrap 4 Sale and Produce Exchange), but for far less than shops charge, and right after a wipe they pay about half, never less than 1 scrap. Each order's price moves on its own, though, so a gap can open late in a wipe: with metal fragments at half price at the Resource Exchange (250 for 12 scrap) and Scrap 4 Sale paying double (2 scrap for 20), 24 scrap buys 500 fragments that sell for 50. Crafting and recycling never profits either: the recycler returns at most the tier's share of the ingredients and skips the scrap in the recipe entirely, paying only the item's fixed recycle scrap. Profit here means one thing: the parts you get back would have cost more scrap to buy as parts.
Expected outputs: fractions are the chance of one more unit, so a 1.5 gears row means one gear guaranteed and a 50% roll for a second.
Buying and recycling at Outpost: common questions
- What should I buy at Outpost to recycle in Rust?
- At the Power Plant recycler (75%), the Chainsaw, Shotgun Trap, Small Generator, Small Oil Refinery and Water Jug give back parts worth more scrap than they cost, at base shop prices. At the safe zone recyclers (40%) only the Chainsaw does.
- Is it worth recycling a Chainsaw in Rust?
- Yes. A Chainsaw has a base price of 125 scrap at the Outpost: Tools & Stuff vendor (250 right after a wipe, when shops charge 2x). Its parts are worth 136 scrap at safe zone recyclers and 255 scrap at the Power Plant recycler.
- What is the wood for stone trick in Rust?
- The Resource Exchange sells 1,000 stone for 50 scrap and swaps 150 stone for 500 wood. Buying stone and swapping it gets 1,000 wood for 15 scrap instead of 20.
- Can you make scrap by recycling in Rust?
- Not at base prices. Some shops pay scrap (Fish Exchange, and Bandit Camp's Scrap 4 Sale and Produce Exchange), but for far less than shops charge. Each order's price moves on its own between 0.5x and 2x its base price during a wipe, so a gap can open: with metal fragments at half price at the Resource Exchange and Scrap 4 Sale paying double, 24 scrap buys 500 fragments that sell for 50. Recycling pays only when the parts you get would cost more scrap to buy as parts.