Recycling yield is the amount of usable material recovered from a collected waste stream. It is usually expressed as a ratio or percentage, comparing the input mass with the fraction that can be cleaned, sorted, and turned into a new feedstock. The yield is affected by contamination, mixed materials, moisture, and processing losses.
In security and asset-disposal workflows, yield matters because not everything collected can be safely or economically recovered. For example, e-waste recycling may separate metals, plastics, and circuit components, but damaged, blended, or contaminated items reduce the final output. A high recycling yield means the recovery system is efficient; a low yield shows that more material was lost to sorting errors or processing waste. Measuring yield helps organizations judge whether a recycling process is practical and how much material can actually be reused.