How do you calculate scrap recovery rate?

Divide recovered scrap by total scrap generated, then multiply by 100. With 8 recovered against 250 total, the rate is 8 ÷ 250 × 100 = 3.2%.

What is a good scrap recovery rate?

It varies by material, but mature electronics depots often recover 60–90% of scrap value through resale and reclaim. A 3.2% result against a 95% target signals either a very early-stage program or a denominator that overstates total scrap.

Should I measure recovery in units or dollars?

Dollars are usually more meaningful because they weight high-value precious-metal recovery over bulk low-value plastic. Use units only when you are tracking landfill diversion for a sustainability metric — just keep numerator and denominator in the same basis.

Why is my scrap recovery rate so low?

Common causes are counting all generated scrap as the denominator while only a fraction has been processed yet, or a recovery program that is newly launched. The 91.8-point gap in the example usually means recovery is lagging the scrap that has piled up.

Scrap recovery rate vs yield — what's the difference?

Yield measures good output from a process; scrap recovery measures value pulled back from the rejects. A line can have low yield yet high scrap recovery if its waste stream is rich in reclaimable material.

How do I improve scrap recovery?

Segregate streams at the source so high-value material is not contaminated, partner with a certified reclaimer for precious metals, and process scrap promptly so it does not sit as unrecovered inventory. Each lifts the numerator toward your target.

Electronics Repair, Refurbishment & Depot Operations calculator

Scrap Recovery Rate Calculator

Scrap recovery rate measures how much value a depot pulls back out of its scrap stream instead of paying to dispose of it. Refurbishment operations generate dead boards, stripped chassis, and reject components, and a well-run reverse-logistics program recovers a meaningful share through resale, material reclaim, and precious-metal recovery. Operations and sustainability managers track this rate to turn a disposal cost center into a recovery program. The metric is deliberately flexible — you can run it on units diverted from landfill or on dollars reclaimed against dollars scrapped — and it reports both your recovery percentage and the gap to your target.

What this calculator does

Measure the percentage of scrapped electronics, boards, modules, or cores recovered through parts harvest, metal recovery, credit return, or resale channels.
Use it when scrap recovery rate in electronics repair, refurbishment and depot operations needs a clean rate and gap-to-target you can put on a tier board.
It computes the percentage of total scrap (by units or value) that was recovered rather than disposed, plus the point gap to your recovery target.

Formula used

Scrap recovery rate = recovered scrap units or value ÷ total scrap units or value × 100
Scrap recovery gap to target = scrap recovery rate - target scrap recovery rate

Inputs explained

Scrap value or units recovered:
Total scrap value or units generated:
Target scrap recovery rate:

How to use the result

Use it monthly to track diversion and reclaim performance, or when justifying investment in a sorting or material-recovery process.
Recovery rate alone says nothing about net economics — a high reclaim rate can still lose money if processing and freight cost more than the recovered material is worth.

Current U.S. benchmarks

The producer price index for copper and brass mill shapes stands at 559.593 (BLS, May 2026), up 76.8% from a year earlier. Quotes priced off last quarter's material cost miss this move. Global copper trades at $13,484 per tonne (IMF via FRED, May 2026).
U.S. manufacturing runs at 75.6% of capacity (Federal Reserve, May 2026). New factory orders are up 2.3% year over year (Census).
The U.S. has 11,261 computer and electronic products establishments employing about 815,443 workers (Census County Business Patterns, 2023).

Common questions

How do you calculate scrap recovery rate? Divide recovered scrap by total scrap generated, then multiply by 100. With 8 recovered against 250 total, the rate is 8 ÷ 250 × 100 = 3.2%.
What is a good scrap recovery rate? It varies by material, but mature electronics depots often recover 60–90% of scrap value through resale and reclaim. A 3.2% result against a 95% target signals either a very early-stage program or a denominator that overstates total scrap.
Should I measure recovery in units or dollars? Dollars are usually more meaningful because they weight high-value precious-metal recovery over bulk low-value plastic. Use units only when you are tracking landfill diversion for a sustainability metric — just keep numerator and denominator in the same basis.
Why is my scrap recovery rate so low? Common causes are counting all generated scrap as the denominator while only a fraction has been processed yet, or a recovery program that is newly launched. The 91.8-point gap in the example usually means recovery is lagging the scrap that has piled up.
Scrap recovery rate vs yield — what's the difference? Yield measures good output from a process; scrap recovery measures value pulled back from the rejects. A line can have low yield yet high scrap recovery if its waste stream is rich in reclaimable material.

Last reviewed 2026-05-12.