The Last Caretaker Recycler vs Recovery Grinder (and the Dismantle Tool)

The Recycler turns Scraps into the basic materials you build with. The Recovery Grinder takes materials you have too many of and grinds them into Oil and a mix of other materials, losing some on the way. Use the Recycler for every Scrap you pick up; use the Grinder only on surplus, when you want Oil or a material you are short of.

The Dismantle Tool is the first step: it takes apart objects in the world, from furniture to robots, and gives you Scraps. The Recycler is the second step: it turns those Scraps into materials. The tooltip shows what you will get before you dismantle.

Yes, they do different jobs. The Recycler comes early, at tier 4; the Grinder comes much later, at Tier 23 and only after Ugly Work, so you run a Recycler long before you can build a Grinder.

It is a tier 4 module: unlock it in the Skills menu, then build it. It runs on electricity.

Since Update 01 (December 16, 2025) the Recycler also produces raw biomatter.

Old-world cash can be dismantled and recycled into resources.

It does not take bio materials; those go to the Soilforge or Soilforge Prime.

Update 6 (October 19, 2026) made Copper Scraps recycle in 3 seconds instead of 10, stopped the Recycler from taking things stowed on your back, and shows how long each item takes to recycle and how much electricity it uses.

Finish the Ugly Work quest by scanning the two missing Recovery Grinder blueprints at the Eternal Flame and Dead Breath silos (the Salvage Gyro gets you there). It then sits at Tier 23 and costs 4 skill points.

Update 5.5 changed the Reactive Core in its recipe to use Quantum Crystal instead of Plasma Gel.

Give it power and connect an Oil tank to catch what comes out.

Metal items such as scrap, steel beams, shelves and plates count as Iron in the Grinder, which is why they come out as Copper and Gold.