In Remembrance of Senator Byron Sher (1928 – 2026)

State Senator Byron Sher’s environmental legacy stretches across California—from cleaner air and water to protected forests, coastlines, and natural places.

From left to right: Kip Lipper, Senator Byron Sher, and Mark Murray

For those of us who have invested our time, passion, and resources into advancing waste reduction and recycling in California, that legacy is profoundly personal: many of us—individuals and organizations alike—owe our programs, our careers, and our accomplishments to Senator Sher’s vision, creativity, and principled leadership.

He negotiated, refined, and expanded the California Bottle Bill from its inception through its first decade, turning it into the unique, market-based recycling success story it is today. He envisioned and ultimately brought about a California where recycling is as simple and convenient as throwing something away—his landmark AB 939 in 1989 literally created the curbside and commercial recycling programs we all take for granted today.

More than simply creating durable incentives for convenient recovery, Senator Sher understood the need for parallel forces of market development to make recycling sustainable. Decades before “EPR” became a catchphrase, Senator Sher was the first policymaker in the United States to make Producer Responsibility a central feature of recycling through policies requiring the internalization of the net cost of recycling.

Senator Sher’s legacy did more than divert bottles, e-waste, and other materials from disposal: it helped build programs, markets, public agencies, businesses, and an entire professional community dedicated to conserving resources. His enduring monument is found not only in California’s cleaner landscapes, but also in the generations of people whose work, purpose, and careers were made possible by the future he had the vision—and the persistence—to put into law.

While Senator Sher termed out of the Legislature in 2008, his policy vision, creativity, and tenacity continue today through the work of his long-time chief of staff, Kip Lipper, who remains the Legislature’s most enduring champion. I will leave Kip with the final word on Senator Sher:

“I don’t think it’s overstating it to say Byron was the single most important legislator on natural resources and the environment in California history. It’s not so much in a book or a website somewhere. It’s in the branches of the North Coast redwoods, the tidepools along the coast, the cleaner air people breathe and the water they drink.”

— Kip Lipper, former Chief of Staff

Personally, I am keenly aware that I owe the passion-driven career I've enjoyed for the last 39 years—and any associated policy accomplishments—to the opportunities, education, and model of principled leadership that Byron (and Kip) shared with me. I know I am not alone.

We are deeply grateful for the work, vision, and commitment of this extraordinary man.

Rest in Peace, Byron David Sher 1928 – 2026