Kickstart: The sustainability news from London is not good

Three top research groups in the United Kingdom — the Natural History Museum, the University of London and the Zoological Society of London — have collaborative research out on the impact of microplastics in the Thames River and its impact on animals, the water, the soil beneath the river and the shoreline, and it isn't good.

For one part of the studies, conducted by postgraduate students Alex McGoran, Katharine Rowley and Katherine McCoy, an examination of 135 crabs and found 874 pieces of microplastic or fiber in or on them.

"About 95 percent of mitten crabs were found to have tangled plastic in the stomach," the Natural History Museum said in a news release. "Although tangles were dominated by fibers, they were found to contain other fragments of microplastics from sanitary pads, balloons, elastic bands and carrier bags."

Another study on microplastics found in the water said while some bits came from glitter or microbeads, a total of 93.5 percent of plastics came from larger items that broke down into smaller parts.

As Karen Laird, editor of our sister paper Sustainable Plastics, writes: "While each of the three each studied a separate aspect, taken together, the findings were grim."

Time magazine has a Q&A with Chris Kempczinski, the CEO of McDonald's, which covers topics from how they're staffing during a pandemic to how often he eats McDonald's food (twice a day) and an update on the restaurant giant's process in updating the chicken sandwich.

Kempczinski said that while some competitors saw shortages in supplies of packaging, cleaning materials and even food, McDonald's did not. Of course, McDonald's also has a lot of clout.

"I'm guessing if you're a McDonald's supplier, you are going to make sure that is one order that gets filled without fail," writer Eben Shapiro noted.

"We have made a point similar to that on a few different occasions," Kempczinski said.

And one more item of interest to suppliers of McDonald's indoor playgrounds: "I don't know if we've got ball pits in our future," Kempczinski said with a laugh. "There's probably some good public-health reasons not for us to be doing a lot of ball pits."

Today is primary election day in Michigan and a few other states, and when you think politics, you immediately think ... Barbie?

Well Mattel Inc. does and is selling the Barbie Campaign Team "gift set," a grouping of four of the dolls within its Barbie family featuring a candidate, campaign manager, fund raiser and voter. Each doll comes with its own accessories.

"Candidate Barbie doll is dressed in a chic pink jacket and black pants and comes with a microphone and cell phone for speeches and important calls," retailer Target says on its website, while "voter Barbie doll is dressed in a white tee and jeans and comes with a ballot and cell phone and is ready to vote for her candidate."

The set "captures all the excitement of campaign season and the teamwork and determination it takes to run a campaign."

Let's not ruin that "excitement" by weighing down these dolls (or their owners) with the current state of politics, though, OK? That is, if you can get your hands on one of the sets, which are already sold out on some websites.

But speaking of women chasing their dreams, this week we're posting profiles of more than 30 women named as Women Breaking the Mold 2020. These are longer versions of the stories by Jordan Vitick, our special projects editor, that appeared in this week's print edition of Plastics News.

We'll be posting about six profiles per day, in alphabetical order. You can check the regular news feed at plasticsnews.com or click here to go to the Women Breaking the Mold landing page.