I'm playing in sandbox mode to try out stuff and the towns don't produce any recyclables. The town is getting all the stuff that would normally produce recyclables. Waste and biomass are working fine.

I'm playing in sandbox mode to try out stuff and the towns don't produce any recyclables. The town is getting all the stuff that would normally produce recyclables. Waste and biomass are working fine.

Recyclable pool comes from when stuff is manufactured, so I'm guessing this is Working As Intended.
Correct, recycling ratio is applied at products transformation (recipes), no transformation no recyclables.
A product can be produced from different input materials and quantities (think steel vs iron) so the entire chain is required to provide meaningful results.
perhaps adding a default recyclables value to items from a "unit source" would be useful, given the goal of SB mode. thanks for the answer.
Closed as ☑️ Works as intended