> I wonder what people are doing to their nonstick pans that they need to throw them out every year?

I had a very high-quality non-stick skillet, only used wood/plastic utensils, and the non-stick coating started coming off after about three years (of pretty heavy use).

I plan to have it refurbished, there are (at least in Germany) services where they sand-blast your skillet and apply a new coating. Seems wasteful to throw away the entire skillet for that.