Sometimes there is a need to repair something (looking at you gyro) but all you have is plenty of various scraps, but no actual materials.
Proposal: portable shedder that can be carried in the inventory, dropped on the ground on demand and powered directly from Caretaker's battery or a small battery. Functions identical to big shredder, but produces materials slightly slower.
Alternative option is to have it in form factor of a backpack. when equipped, adds a "Convert to materials" context menu options to every scrap items in the player's inventory.
#Portabe shedder.
dull walrus
lofty pilot
Well, it would be enough if it processed the scrap, we've already done the shredding in most cases.
humble kiln
it doesnt take that many resources to build a full recycler though, it just needs a little planning to keep enough materials on/near you all the time
dull walrus
it doesnt take that many resources to build a full recycler though, it just need...
you may need to shredd scraps in a confined space where big shredder just wont fit tho
humble kiln
i guess, you could just make it work like the self-build function, its slow and requires you have nothing else in your hands, but you can recycle items whilst stood there idle and it consumes your internal power
dull walrus
that's a step too far imo. we already have components crafting without fabricator, removing shredder even for emergency cases only is too much of simplification from my point of view