Tiny Eden: recycling XP stuck at zero

What was going wrong

Threads about it go back to 8 September, the day after launch, and kept coming. Players composted everything they had, removed mature plants, verified their game files and tried different composters, and the skill still showed zero.

It mattered more than a missing number. One player pointed out that the drone upgrades for clearing biomass and dead plants sit behind this skill, and another had got as far as turning all their biomass into super compost without earning a point.

• "I have collected and recycled so much biomass, and its still at 0 :("
• "no amount of removing mature plants with a trowel grants any xp to this skill-category."
• "Unfortunately, the issue with recycling can't be fixed even with a new save file; I've started over three times, and I'm not getting any XP for it in any of the saves."

The change in Update #5

The fix did not arrive with the earlier patches. Update #5 on 12 September lists it under Perks and Experience, alongside a second experience fix for a neighbouring tree.

The wording is about what earns experience from now on. It does not say whether biomass processed before the update is credited retroactively, so if your skill still reads zero after updating, compost or uproot something new and check again.

• "The Recycling perk tree now grants experience for composting and uprooting plants."
• "Fixed experience gains for the Decay perk tree."

The biomass quest is a separate problem

A lot of the same threads mix in a second issue: the recycling quest that asks you to collect biomass would not progress either. That one was a mix of a unit error and a stuck completion button, and the patches treated it separately.

The quest text originally asked for litres, while biomass is weighed. Players worked out a 20 kg target, which Update #3 then wrote into the quest itself. The number has moved since: Update #4 reduced the compost the Composter quest needs, and Update #5 localises a "10 kg biomass objective", so go by the figure in your own quest window.

What the skill feeds

Recycling sits between the garden and the composter. Plants you clear and biomass you gather go into the rooftop composter, and players report super compost cannot be bought, only made in an upgraded composter, which some crops will not grow without.

That is why a stuck skill turned into a stuck save for some players: no experience meant no drone upgrades for clearing biomass and dead plants, and biomass spent on regular compost was biomass that could not become super compost later.

The community sheet's list of what each project asks for is on the project requirements page.

If it still reads zero after updating

Make sure the game is on Update #5 or later, then do something the notes now say earns experience: compost biomass, or uproot a plant with the trowel. Save and reload once afterwards, since several of the launch-week progression fixes players found only took effect after a reload.

If none of that moves it, the Steam discussion board is where the developers have been answering progression bugs. A new save is not the obvious first move either: one player restarted three times before the patch without earning any.

Frequently asked

Why is my recycling XP stuck at 0 in Tiny Eden?

It was a bug. Update #5 on 12 September made the Recycling perk tree grant experience for composting and uprooting plants.

Does starting a new game fix recycling XP?

It did not for one player, who restarted three times before Update #5 and still earned nothing.

How much biomass does the recycling quest need?

Check your quest window. Update #3 changed the text from litres to a full bag of 20 kg, Update #4 reduced the Composter quest's compost requirement, and Update #5 mentions a 10 kg biomass objective.