Condolences – Northern California Recycling Association

Obituary By Ruth Abbe, NCRA President, 1996-1999

Visions Require Overtime, Usually Unpaid ^[1]

Arthur Robinson Boone III was born on March 17, 1938 and died on October 14, 2024 after a short illness. He was 86.

Arthur, ARB or Robin (to his old friends) was an innovator, visionary, and somewhat of a crank. A member of the Northern California Recycling Association (NCRA) since 1984, he served as Board President, Secretary, and Chair of both the Education Committee Chair and Zero Waste Advocacy Committee.

He is best known for his work in recycling research and education. He developed the curriculum and taught NCRA’s Introduction to Recycling Class for over 20 years. He created the innovative format of NCRA’s Recycling Update annual conference, known as “speed dating for recyclers” (nobody speaks for more than 10 minutes).

Robin went to Princeton (Class of 1960 Cum Laude in English), Brown University and Union Theological Seminary. He always posted his diplomas above the sink in the kitchen, as dishwashing keeps you humble. He was an Episcopal priest and parish minister, a civil rights program director, and a recycling program manager and policy advocate.

Arthur Boone’s a2017 NRC Lifetime Achievement Award Acceptance Speech and nomination!

He formed both the Oakland Recycling Association in 1984 (which operated recycling centers in North Oakland and West Oakland) and the Total Recycling Association in 1994 (which dismantled mattresses – a first!).

He continued his research and writing through the Center of Recycling Research and Total Recycling Associates. But his passion project became trees. When the City of Oakland cut its urban forest program in 2009, Robin secured grants from the Sierra Club and CalFire and led the volunteer team to plant over 2,000 trees by 2018. These Oakland street trees were planted in curbstrip spaces cut out of the concrete, watered by volunteers, and will be his living legacy.

In one of his annual letters to family and friends Robin wrote about his long to-do list of self-assigned projects and said: When I’m gone, the regular people will say I took things too seriously, working too hard. My friends will say, “No, he liked to go that way, full speed ahead wherever he could.”

He is survived by his four children, Ella Webster, William Boone, Isabelle Boone George, and Phoebe Boone Green and two grandchildren. He was predeceased by his former spouse Mary Catherine Hoag and his life partner Natalie Peterson.

In Robin’s honor, go out and plant a tree. Donations can also be made to Trees for Oakland.

A memorial service will be held at Robin’s home church, Saint Augustine’s Episcopal Church in Oakland (where he also served twice as interim minister), on Saturday, December 14 at 11am. Contact the office if you would like to be invited.

^[1] Attributed by Robin to Princeton University President Shirley M. Tilghman, circa 2007

The Bay Area Recycling Community Has Lost One Of Its Long Time Heroes
By Kevin Drew, Residential Zero Waste Senior Coordinator, San Francisco Department of the Environment

Bernie Meyerson slipped away in May, following his lifelong partner Marion by 7 years, an eternity after their over 60 years together, starting out as teenagers in the neighborhoods of Brooklyn just after the end of WWII.

Bernie was “present at the creation” of many aspects of what we now take for granted in Bay Area and California resource recovery, such as: curbside recycling in Fresno in the 1970’s, opposition to incinerators in the Berkeley and San Francisco, supporting reform of SF’s 1932 Refuse Ordinance and Norcal’s (now Recology) monopoly, supporting recycled content industries as the only real solution to sustainable materials management. Bernie not only advocated for, but got into the business of, recycling: putting his time and money where his mouth and brain were, helping to create Multi Material Management & Marketing in Oakland.

Bernie was a mentor to many of us in the recycling movement. Always willing to spend some time discussing the intricacies of recycling and materials management. “It’s all about the markets” was Bernie’s common refrain and he’d go on to explain what was happening in China, Viet Nam, India or Los Angeles, where ever material was moving or not moving. For good measure, Bernie could be counted on to add a dose of thoughtful exposition on the connection back to local, state and national policies and politics. He was a powerful intellect, able to hold forth persuasively and accurately on our industry, and many other topics.

Bernie could also be counted on to “be there” for the environment and fellow recyclers, even decades down the road on important matters and little issues. Most recently he helped protect San Francisco’s waterfront from over-development by helping to passing Prop B. He provided long hours of thoughtful consideration as a member of San Francisco’s Peak Oil Task Force. He saved my butt with wise counsel on handling the DOC Enforcement actions being levied at the HANC Recycling Center shortly after I started work there in 1988, and early in the AB2020 implementation.

I really never stopped listening to Bernie wax on, wax on about . . . whatever. I miss that repartee already.

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Visions Require Overtime, Usually Unpaid [1]

Visions Require Overtime, Usually Unpaid ^[1]