Last time, I posted about six things commonly thrown in the recycling bin that definitely shouldn’t be there. This week, I wanted to provide some balance by mentioning seven things that you should be recycling but perhaps aren't because you've heard not to.

Bottle tops

Someone told me that because of the little plastic seal on the inside of beer bottle caps, they can't be recycled. This turns out to be untrue. To recycle steel bottle tops, simply seal them in an empty aluminium can and toss the whole thing. This way, the small caps don't get lost in the machinery.

Soy sauce fish

Think those tiny plastic fish with remnants of soy sauce have to be tossed in the rubbish? Think again. Millions of these every year get thrown into landfill (sometimes ending up in the ocean!) Like bottle caps, these little suckers are prone to falling through the spaces in the machinery, so you can collect them in a larger plastic recyclable bottle and dispose of the whole thing altogether.

Take-away containers

Provided you wash out all the bits and pieces from your take away noodle dish, you can recycle plastic take-away containers, even if they have a little bit of grease still left in them.

Aluminium foil

Tin foil from Easter chocolates, the foil lids from your yoghurt and aluminium food trays are perfect recycling items – just try to remove any food scraps.

Pizza boxes

Many people don’t recycle pizza boxes because of the grease left inside, but as long as you remove any food scraps, it should be fine to recycle. At the very least, you can always rip off the lid and recycle that if the base of the box is too sodden for recycling.

Long-life milk and juice cartons

Comprised mostly of cardboard, plastic and aluminium foil, long-life milk and juice cartons are perfect recycling candidates.

Aerosol cans

Perhaps the most surprising on this list is aerosol cans. Most people will toss these straight into general waste but since they’re made of out plastic and aluminium, they should be recycled. Don’t worry about them exploding either – just try to remove any plastic parts and don’t puncture the can.

Read more at sbs.com.au