  We introduce a new quantity, that we term recoverable information, defined
for stabilizer Hamiltonians. For such models, the recoverable information
provides a measure of the topological information, as well as a physical
interpretation, which is complementary to topological entanglement entropy. We
discuss three different ways to calculate the recoverable information, and
prove their equivalence. To demonstrate its utility, we compute recoverable
information for fracton models using all three methods where appropriate. From
the recoverable information, we deduce the existence of emergent $Z_2$
Gauss-law type constraints, which in turn imply emergent $Z_2$ conservation
laws for point-like quasiparticle excitations of an underlying topologically
ordered phase.
