Bill Sheehan (biologist)

{{Short description|Biologist and environmental advocate (born 1947)}}

Bill Sheehan (born August 6, 1947) is a biologist and environmental advocate. He is best known for his work on zero waste and extended producer responsibility{{cite journal |last1=Motovalli |first1=Jim |title=A New Approach to Recycling |journal=E–The Environmental Magazine |date=March 9, 2011 |url=https://emagazine.com/bill-sheehan/}} through two American nonprofit organizations. He co-founded Product Policy Institute{{cite journal |last1=Rabin |first1=Emily |title=Product Stewardship -- Who Takes out the Trash? |journal=GreenBiz |date=February 13, 2005 |url=https://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2005/02/13/product-stewardship-who-takes-out-trash}}{{cite journal |last1=Zeller |first1=Tom |title=Recycling: The big picture |journal=National Geographic |date=Jan 2008 |volume=213 |issue=1 |pages=82–87 |url=http://www.columbia.org/pdf_files/productpolicy2.pdf}}{{cite journal |last1=Strom |first1=Stephanie |title=Companies Pick Up Used Packaging, and Recycling's Cost |journal=New York Times |date=March 23, 2012 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/24/business/companies-pick-up-used-packaging-and-recyclings-cost.html}}{{cite journal |last1=Burns |first1=Melinda |title=The Smoldering Trash Revolt |journal=Miller-McCune Magazine |date=January 21, 2010 |url=http://www.electronicstakeback.com/2010/01/21/the-smoldering-trash-revolt/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130183624/http://www.electronicstakeback.com/2010/01/21/the-smoldering-trash-revolt/|url-status=usurped|archive-date=November 30, 2010}} (now UPSTREAM{{Cite web |url=https://upstreamsolutions.org/ |title = UPSTREAM - Sparking innovative solutions to plastic pollution}}) in 2003 and was Executive Director until 2015. He co-founded GrassRoots Recycling Network{{cite journal |last1=Grist Staff |title=Bill Sheehan, GrassRoots Recycling Network |journal=Grist |date=March 20, 2000 |url=https://grist.org/article/sheehan-grassroots_recycling/}}GrassRoots Recycling Network Archives http://archive.grrn.org/scrapbooks/index.html in 1995 and was Executive Director until 2003.

In 2017 he co-founded Fungal Diversity Survey, or FunDiS (formerly North American Mycoflora Project). FunDiS is a nonprofit organization that helps community scientists document the diversity and distribution of fungi across North America in order to protect them and their habitats. Sheehan was Board President through 2021.

Sheehan received a doctorate in insect ecology from Cornell University in 1987. He researched ecology of parasitoid wasps for biological control.Response by Specialist and Generalist Natural Enemies to Agroecosystem Diversification: A Selective Review |url=https://academic.oup.com/ee/article-abstract/15/3/456/2480356{{Citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tDIgAQAAMAAJ|title=Parasitoid Community Ecology, Oxford University Press|website=|isbn=978-0-19-854058-8 |access-date=|last1=Hawkins |first1=Bradford A. |last2=Sheehan |first2=William |year=1994 |publisher=Oxford University Press }}