Green House

By Cynthia E. Griffen

You don't have to be a big company to make a big difference by recycling.

Space is a precious commodity for homebased entrepreneurs. Consequently, the thought of allocating a portion of that territory to a nonbusiness purpose-even a worthy cause like recycling-inspires uneasy feelings.

Recycling advocate Alan Orloff understands completely, and he wants to soothe your worries. "You do not need a lot of extra space to recycle," says Orloff. "Everybody has time to do it; once you learn what to do, it becomes second nature." Orloff should know. He publishes two newsletters from his Virginia home: Waste Reduction Tips since 1995 and the Recycled Products Business Letter since 1993.

The first step is to do a waste audit. "What are you using and what are you throwing away?" asks Orloff. The idea, he explains, is to find ways to reduce the amount you use so there is less to recycle.

During the audit, determine what is recyclable; for most homebased businesses, that's primarily paper.

"Anything on paper-reports, documents, drafts, etc.-can be recycled," says Orloff, adding that there is a growing demand for mixed office paper. Mixed paper includes junk mail, manila file folders, hanging file folders, paper envelopes and more.

What exactly can you recycle? Orloff offers some suggestions:

If you get boxes, manila envelopes or packing supplies from your supplier, save and reuse them to send items to your customers. "Your local Mail Boxes Etc. may also take the peanuts and bubble wrap," adds Orloff. Not all stores do this, so check for the nearest location.

Reuse rubber bands and paper clips from items you receive in the mail.

Don't toss toner cartridges; they can be recycled or remanufactured. Orloff suggests looking in the Yellow Pages for a recycler or contacting the dealer who sold you the cartridge.

Corrugated boxes are easily recyclable, and there are businesses that will pay you for your cardboard.

Most communities recycle the numbers 1 and 2 plastic soda and milk jugs; if you look at the bottom of plastic containers and see a 1 or 2 inside a triangle, these are recyclable. In March, a survey of 255 cities by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found 84 percent had curbside recycling, and three out of four municipalities surveyed offered this service on a weekly basis. Call the public works, environmental or recycling program in your city or county for information about specific services available.

Orloff also suggests taking these steps to reduce waste:

Print or copy draft documents on both sides of the paper.

Use e-mail instead of paper messages.

Use a Post-it-type note instead of a full sheet of paper for a fax cover sheet.

Use plain paper in your fax machine; thermal paper does not recycle well.

When printing a document that is just for your use, consider using a smaller type size; and before you print, try to catch as many errors as possible.

You can also help the environment by purchasing recycled products. The American Plastics Council has several publications that help consumers and businesses buy products made of recycled materials. Recycled Plastic Products Source Book and Shop Recycled! are both available free from the council by calling (800) 2-HELP-90. The organization can also provide a national list of locations that will recycle plastics.

Silence Is Golden

Is noise pollution stifling your business's productivity?

One minute you're sitting in your home office concentrating on meeting a deadline, and the next moment the sound of your daughters discussing their homework two rooms away scatters your thoughts.

Just as you refocus your energies, the joyful squeals of children playing at the end of the block intrude to distract you once more.

What's the problem? "If you have difficulty speaking on the phone when others are talking or playing next door or above you, if footsteps from the floors above you interfere with your phone conversations, or if you can understand speech coming from adjacent rooms, you have a noise problem," says Gregory C. Tocci, president of Cavanaugh Tocci Associates Inc., an acoustical consulting company in Sudbury, Massachusetts.

If you suffer from any of these problems, Tocci says, there are several ways you can eliminate or reduce them. The best solution is to have a professional soundproof the room. Tocci estimates the cost at $10 to $20 per square foot for supplies and labor. If you don't want to go this route, you can put additional drywall on one side and have insulation blown into the wall cavity created.

The most cost-conscious option is to add a layer of drywall to each side to make the wall thicker, says Tocci. This costs about $10 per square foot for supplies and labor.

To cut down on noise from above, start by carpeting the floor in the rooms above. "Also make sure that music speakers are not sitting on the floor, sending vibrations down into your office," adds Tocci.

Another, more costly, solution is to suspend a new drywall from the ceiling from a metal frame.

If you don't want the mess of construction, Penny Bonda, national president of the American Society of Interior Designers, suggests considering fabric-covered acoustical panels and white noise.

"You can apply homosote panels to the drywall. These acoustical panels can be found at any good building supply store," says Bonda, who describes them as a pressed paper product sold in sheets. They do not come with fabric covering, but Bonda says covering them is very simple to do and fairly inexpensive.

For the least expensive solution, Bonda suggests white noise or sound-masking systems. "These emit sounds that are like a background noise you can ignore," she says. Portable ones are available through the Sharper Image stores and catalog, as well as through other catalogs. For the simplest form of white noise, try the soothing whir of the typical desk fan.

If the noise bothering you is coming from inside your office, Bonda offers a homespun solution: Put that noisy printer and fax machine in a closet, cabinet or armoire lined with sound-absorbing quilts and comforters; then close the door.

The bottom line is to think of your office as an envelope. Then find all the ways sound can get into it and seal them up with the most sound-absorbing material possible.

Meeting Of The Minds

A new council helps unify homebased businesses.

At a recent national meeting of homebased business advocates, a number of decisions were made that could unify homebased business owners. The most important outcome was the formation of the North American Homebased Business Advisory Council.

According to David Buchen, head of the Homebased Business Project at the University of Wisconsin, Whitewater, which hosted the meeting, the council was formed to facilitate better networking among all those involved in promoting homebased business in Canada, Mexico and the United States.

The council has four goals it hopes to achieve within the next year:

1. creating a code of ethics to help entrepreneurs know which organizations are legitimate;

2. developing a database of resources and organizations that can be included in a library on the Internet;

3. examining zoning ordinances nationwide to develop model ordinances that individuals and groups seeking to legalize homebased businesses can use; and

4. working to create a more positive image of homebased businesses.

In addition to creating the council, conference attendees also decided to explore the possibility of creating a virtual homebased information center on the World Wide Web, where educators, associations and homebased businesspeople could interact on a regular basis. Buchen says they are seeking a grant to fund a three-year project to develop the center.

At the conference, Buchen also introduced a home page his Homebased Business Project has put on the Web. It offers a library, as well as a forum where messages are posted and answered.

For more information, contact Buchen at (414) 472-1917. Access the Homebased Business Project Web page at http://wisbus.uww.edu.

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Penny Bonda, c/o The Hillier Group, 1700 Connecticut Ave. N.W., #300, Washington, DC 20009, (202) 588-0100;

Cavanaugh Tocci Associates Inc., 327-F Boston Post Rd., Sudbury, MA 01776, (508) 443-7871;

Environmental Newsletters Inc., 11906 Paradise Ln., Heardon, VA 22071, (703) 758-8436;

Homebased Business Project, (414) 472-1917, director@wisbus.uww.edu.