I'm curious about why the mod is using recipes in this way in the first place. As a modder and programmer myself, it doesn't feel like the right way to do things. Could you elaborate a bit about that, @Klonan?
I belive it's a simple way to track what's to be delivered\mined (the same trick is used for mining drones) without having to use too many script, or programming a costume gui.
Space Exploration uses a similar trick to power it's delivery cannons.