With the race against time towards climate-neutrality, several countries are taking significant and urgent leaps from traditional fossil fuels to renewable energy alternatives. This shift demands a combination of various solutions, including large-scale production of decarbonized hydrogen. In Germany, deployment strategies are in place to reach GW-scale electrolysis capacities and produce 90 - 110 TWH of energy from green hydrogen by 2030. Industrialization of such scale will generate massive waste streams in the form of end-of-life electrolyzers and fuel cells. Thus, sustainable recycling must be proactively discussed and developed. Solid oxide cell (SOC) stacks are among the promising candidates for commercialization, owing to their high electrical efficiencies and lifetime performance. This present work focuses on the resource efficiency of metallic components, in particular interconnect assemblies, from end-of-life SOC stacks. There are two potential recovery pathways: firstly, the production of a secondary alloy that can be used as raw material in SOC stack manufacturing, and secondly, the generation of high-value alloys meeting existing demands in the market. The composition of SOC metallic scraps was analysed based on extensive characterization results on samples from different stack designs and lifetimes. Experimental results on their melting behaviours under different conditions, i.e., inert and oxidizing atmospheres, and slag-forming flux ratios are discussed, focusing on the elemental partitioning between the alloy and oxide slag phases. The experimental results are compared with thermodynamic equilibrium calculations based on the available databases (FToxid, SGTE, SGPS) in FactSage software. Finally, a comprehensive recycling route based on steelmaking operations is proposed and evaluated. This includes metallurgical refinement steps to limit over-alloying and trace element dilution, as well as heat treatment to achieve target alloy microstructures. Valuable elements contained in the by-products are evaluated, and suggestions for further resource recovery are provided.