More than likely the same thing that happens to the recycling bin sitting at Lowes or Home Depot that’s full of every manufacturer’s batteries. I assume they are shipped to a third party that extracts the batteries, recycles the plastic shell and electronics. The batteries can probably be recycled for profit, while the rest has a slight negative cost to it.
I say they are recycled vs rebuilt because I’ve never seen a commercial source for refurb batteries from all vendors, but I could be wrong. Besides I’m sure the tool manufacturers get a tax break for having a li-ion recyclying solution in place.
I’m ride or die with you and this now “stock” reply on every coffee story.
I could see a road crew enjoying the Makita’s portability. I was about to say “maybe for camping” but even there, you’re better off with one of these and a coffee can stove. With my stovetop maker I’m filling a big Contigo mug with the equivalent of three to six shots of espresso, topping with a full cup of hot milk/substitute, and sipping that through my 6 a.m. commute. It kills my coffee craving for the rest of the day and as a result I sleep better at night.
I’m on my third stovetop maker in 21 years. My first was from Ikea and it lasted a good long time. The second broke after an attempt was made to leverage the handle rather than gripping the main body to unscrew it. After trying and failing to fix that one, I felt a little guilty spending so much on the new maker below, but it is so much cleaner and feels indestructable with a clamp down handle design (no more threading/twisting issues).
As of this posting, it is $35 cheaper than the Makita so there’s that. I was completely ignorant about the 9090 when I came across it online. When I saw it had a name attached, not having heard of Richard Sapper or Alessi, I was a little hesitant thinking I might be buying a name instead of quality (as celebs who are not designers seem to have destroyed any notion of quality in recent years).
Sapper was a genius. I’m so glad I took the plunge. There’s a nice history of Alessi and this coffee maker and their relationship to the Bialetti.
There are several other interviews with Alessi on that site.
