Said it already here and there but officially again:
A “silent” change with HWS 8.X was that we flipped the egs:Recycle and cb:destroy logic around.
Now you can’t egs:recycle anymore if enemies are around you but can use cb:destroy instead.
Why?
Because as in real life there should be a self destruction timer available, so nobody gets anything out of it.
And because the game is still very buggy and you could get a disconnect and lose your ship at almost 100% health.
But I see your point about a guaranteed reward for your time investment.
For now I think the solution might be our automated events coming soon.
Events like Deathmatches, Capture the Base and more.