Tech Trash is one of the most important components in Rust as you get closer and closer to the end game. You will need this resource to craft all of the higher-tier equipment that usually seems impossible to get.
Unfortunately, Tech Trash seems to appear all over the place at the start when you don’t need it and then never actually spawns when you have to craft some C4s.
Recommended Read: How Often Does the Cargo Ship Spawn in Rust
There are a few ways to get Tech Trash in Rust, and most of them will either involve looting, recycling, or even buying items to exchange for it.
To get Tech Trash in Rust, you can loot high-tier crates, such as the Locked, Elite Tier, and APC Crates, you can recycle CCTV Cameras and Targeting Computers, or you can buy and recycle items such as the Auto Turret, Large Solar Panels, or Tesla Coils.
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How to Get Tech Trash in Rust
There are only three ways you can get Tech Trash in Rust:
- Loot it
- Recycle for it
- Buy items to recycle for it
Loot Tech Trash
The most common way to get Tech Trash in Rust is to loot random scientists or high-tier crates.
These are the exact crates that you can look through for Tech Trash and the possible spawn rate of the component:
- Locked Crate – 45% Chance of Getting Tech Trash
- Underwater Lab Tech Crate – 31% Chance of Getting Tech Trash
- Elite Tier Crate – 28% Chance of Getting Tech Trash
- Underwater Lab Elite Crate – 28% Chance of Getting Tech Trash
- APC Crate – 25% Chance of Getting Tech Trash
- Wagon Military Crate – 17% Chance of Getting Tech Trash
- Underwater Lab Yellow Crate – 17% Chance of Getting Tech Trash
- Military Crate – 17% Chance of Getting Tech Trash
- Supply Drop – 8% Chance of Getting Tech Trash
Since Tech Trash usually comes to higher-tier crates, it is almost impossible to get by looting if you aren’t ready for a fight.
You also have a decent chance of getting the component from scientists, but we generally don’t recommend that as a strategy.
Since Locked Crates have the highest chance of wielding Tech Trash, we suggest that you always go up on the Cargo Ship every time it appears.
All of the Locked Crates on the Cargo Ship respawn, and the enemies there are much easier to defeat than the ones at the Oil Rigs.
Recycle For Tech Trash
There are quite a lot of items that you will find while looting random boxes on the road that have a high chance of giving you Tech Trash if you recycle them.
The best items to recycle for Tech Trash in Rust are the:
- CCTV Camera – Tech Trash x2 when Recycled
- Targeting Computer – Tech Trash x3 when Recycled
Though these two items can be very useful in the later parts of the game, they are usually more useful as recycling material.
CCTV Cameras have a tendency to pop out all over the place. They have a 3% chance to spawn inside a Tool Box, one of the most common types of crates.
If you see any of these two items in the world when you are looting, make sure to keep them and bring them over to a Recycler. You will have more than enough Tech Trash for your other projects.
Buy Items to Recycle for Tech Trash
There are three items that you can buy and then recycle for Tech Trash in Rust.
The only problem is that you only have a 50% chance of actually getting what you want when you recycle them. Here are the exact stats:
- Auto Turret (Scrap x400) – 50% chance of getting CCTV Camera x1 and Targeting Computer x1 (total of 5 Tech Trash)
- Large Solar Panel (Scrap x75) – 50% chance of getting Tech Trash x1
- Tesla Coil (Scrap x75) – 50% chance of getting Tech Trash x1
If you do the math you would realize that the price and risk are generally similar. There is no incredible deal to easily get Tech Trash in Rust.
The only item that you can buy and you will get guaranteed Tech Trash are the Night Vision Goggles. However, they cost 250 Scrap and will only get you 1 Tech Trash.
Usually, if you have a lot of end game resources and a lot of Scrap, then you should buy a lot of Auto Turrets and recycle them. That deal is easier to do and will require less time.
However, if you aren’t that rich, then both the Large Solar Panel and the Tesla Coil are available at the same Building vendor in the Outpost.
The vending machine for the Auto Turret (Weapons) is also in the Outpost if you didn’t know.
That’s everything you need to know about how to get Tech Trash in Rust!
Have any input or suggestions for this guide? Let us know in the comment section below.
