• Fellow Emeritus
• Fellows Emeriti

Bill Sheehan is a policy expert and big picture thinker who has been at the forefront of two U.S. sustainability movements – Zero Waste and Extended Producer Responsibility – over the past two decades.  Bill helped launch and lead the civic movement for Zero Waste as co-founder and Executive Director of the GrassRoots Recycling Network between 1995 and 2003. Then Bill co-founded UPSTREAM (formally Product Policy Institute), a national solutions-oriented policy and strategy think tank working to advance sustainability, end plastic pollution and reduce climate disruption through product-focused environmental policies.  He served as Executive Director until July 2015 and still advises the organization.  At UPSTREAM, Bill worked with local governments, communities and NGOs to bring Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) policies to the US to spur green product design through corporate accountability. This work resulted in the formation of local government Product Stewardship Councils in California, New York, Texas, Vermont, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.  Bill holds a Ph.D. in insect ecology from Cornell University.