All St Vincent de Paul Op Shops (Vinnies) have now been added to the Op Shop map category, bringing the total Op Shop markers to 601. This is all major Op Shop charities and organisations now represented on RecycleMap. There are just the smaller independent Op Shops to be added now. If you know of any that aren’t on the website, please do let me know!

The current total of markers on RecycleMap is now 2382!

All 50 Hato Hone St John retail stores have now been added to the Op Shops map category. This brings the grand total of Op Shop locations to 550!

In other news, I have also approached all main charities with Op Shops in New Zealand to seek approval to use their logos, or variations of them, as map markers, to help with the ease of use. The Salvation Army have been the first to respond with approval 🙂

For those charities where approval can’t be granted, I’m trying to make marker icons that resemble the charities, either in shape or colour etc.

All Salvation Army Family Stores have now been added to the Op Shop category. This rounds out the Op Shop markers to a nice round 500!

In total, RecycleMap now has 2281 marker locations and counting!

I’ve added a new category – “Temporarily Unavailable” for locations that for whatever reason, are temporarily not in service. It has its own marker icon:

In other news, I am currently working on some performance improvements:

• Map caching (Helps speed up load times on maps with lots of markers)
• Clustering (Combines markers that are close together, until you zoom in)
• Jump to location (This used to work, but seems to have issues with the Caching)
• Show location (Again, used to work, but now shows the wrong icon when clustering is enabled)

These are just a few of the things being worked on in the background.

I am in the process of updating the map application that is at the core of RecycleMap, which includes changes to the user interface on the maps. Most are subtle, but please let me know your thoughts and feedback!

Orphans Aid, IHC, Recycle Boutique, and Church Op Shops added. There are now 329 Op Shop markers, and many more to add (Op Shops is likely to end up one of the largest map categories on RecycleMap!)

Also, a “Support the site” page has been added with information on sponsorship, as well as a donation link to show support for the website. It’s important to note that it is my intention to keep the site free for all, any donations are entirely optional, but will greatly assist with the development and maintenance of the website.

Hospice Op Shops have now been added. This brings the total number of locations on RecycleMap to 2045!
Vital stats for the different categories are:

Cardboard & Paper – 354 locations
Batteries – 258 Locations
Polystyrene – 34 Locations
Soft Plastics – 248 Locations
Glass- 336 Locations
Op Shops – 266 Locations (So far…Still have Presbyterian Support, Red Cross, St. Vincent de Paul, The Blind Foundation (Blind Low Vision NZ) and The Salvation Army Op Shops to add!)
Food and Beverage Cartons – 94 Locations
Tin cans – 350 Locations
Cosmetics – 74 Locations
Caps & Lids – 31 Locations

The 25 (at current) Habitat for Humanity ReStore locations have now been added to the Op Shop map category.

The new recycling scheme from the Packaging Forum, Caps and Lids, is now live on RecycleMap.

In other news, there are now 1886 map markers across 10 active maps!

I’ve now added a links page that has links to the websites of all the NZ District and City Councils, along with the various recycling schemes and op shop charities featured on RecycleMap, and other related sites.