Things should stay useful: maintain, repair, restore and return.

Functional repair, spare parts and safe processing systems have collapsed; necessary goods and infrastructure are routinely discarded without competent care.

Only scattered repairers and basic salvage remain; essential repair equipment, trained teams and safe sorting are profoundly lacking.

Basic workshops and collection exist, but major gaps in spare parts, design durability, maintenance skill and safe treatment persist.

Repair and material handling function in some sectors, while widespread maintenance capacity and safe recovery still fall short.

Basic maintenance, inspection, repair, sorting and documented waste handling operate in important sectors with known shortcomings.

Broad repairable design, trained stewards, spare parts and safe collection infrastructure are demonstrably available across key goods.

Integrated local and district maintenance, refurbishment, component recovery and safe material treatment operate reliably across most regions.

Nearly all communities have resilient repair, parts circulation, competent reuse and safe end-of-life processing with monitored standards.

Durable goods and infrastructure are designed for long life, maintainability and adaptive use, with reliable universal repair and safe recovery capability.

Fewer than 5% of people have effective access to a reliable, safe maintenance, repair and recovery pathway when essential items fail.

Only 5–24% can reliably reach basic repair or safe material return; most households face abandonment or unsafe disposal.

25–39% effectively reach reliable repair and safe end-of-life services; most communities still lack usable pathways.

40–49% effectively receive practical repair and safe return services, leaving a majority without a dependable pathway.

At least 50% have verified practical access to needed repair and safe material return, though gaps and costs remain.

More than 75% effectively served by repair and safe return; free access is emerging but is not assumed from recycling statistics.

More than 75% effectively served, with over 30% of the population demonstrably able to receive ordinary essential repair and return without payment.

More than 90% effectively served, with at least 75% of the population receiving ordinary essential repair and return without payment.

Everyone can obtain reliable routine repair, necessary parts, refurbishment and safe material return without a payment barrier.

Premature failure, hazardous disposal and uncontrolled pollution dominate; ordinary repairs are practically impossible.

Extreme replacement costs, broken collection and dangerous dumping expose households, workers and landscapes to major harm.

Persistent high repair prices, inaccessible parts, severe disposal losses and hazardous practices drive unnecessary replacement.

Repair is often slower or more expensive than replacement; substantial waste leakage and unmanaged disposal persist.

Some repair and waste controls work, but ordinary families still face considerable costs, delays and material loss.

Repair, service time and safe collection improve measurably; avoidable disposal and household burdens begin falling.

Major repair cost, service delay and preventable dumping burdens are demonstrably reduced across most essential goods.

Few significant avoidable repair barriers or harmful waste leakages remain; monitoring and remediation address verified failures.

No systemic preventable premature replacement, ordinary repair paywall or harmful dumping; risks are prevented and failures promptly remedied.

Useful materials are rarely recovered, while damaged products and waste routinely harm living systems.

Only isolated scavenging or salvage produces durable benefit; recovered outputs frequently create additional risk.

Limited repair and recycling occur without dependable extension of service life or safe verified output.

Small repair and reuse initiatives exist, but material return remains weak, fragmented or poorly measured.

Some measured reuse, safe recycling and longer product service life are documented, alongside significant continuing losses.

Repair and recovered parts measurably extend useful life; safe reuse or productive material return grows in important sectors.

Verified refurbishment, repeat use, life extension and safe material recovery return substantial usefulness and reduce primary-material need.

Widespread verified life extension and high-quality recovery operate across sectors, with substantial avoided extraction and pollution.

Long-lasting repairable goods, safe biological return, remanufacture and high-quality material circulation demonstrably conserve resources across generations.