Kickstart: Who doesn't love an office dog?

Meet Louie, the 18-month-old Cavapoo (a cross between a King Charles spaniel and a poodle) who is the office dog for Imlay City Molded Products Inc., and personal pup od majority owner Coleen Felstow.

We don't generally go around looking for random dogs to feature, but Louie greeted Editor Don Loepp when he stopped by the Michigan injection molding company to talk to Felstow about what keeps her up at night.

ICMP is a 30-employee molder about 55 miles north of Detroit, and Felstow has been working to build the company's customer base through steady networking and building relationships.

Read more here, and if you're interested in having Don stop by and talk about some of the issues of running a business, drop him a line at [email protected].

The plastics industry groups behind Operation Clean Sweep want to increase standards to comply with the program, saying that companies will have to report "unrecovered releases" of 0.5 of a kilogram, or a little more than a pound, of pellets.

But environmental groups are already signaling that won't be enough.

"While today's announcement is fine, it is voluntary and doesn't come close to what is going to be required to ensure plastics companies stop discharging plastic into waterways across the country," said Julie Teel Simmonds, a lawyer with the Center for Biological Diversity.

Instead, expect to hear calls for a "mandatory zero" release policy, Steve Toloken writes.

BMC Toys has received a lot of positive response to its proposal to create a line of "Green Army Women," similar to the plastic male toy soldiers. A Kickstarter campaign (the crowd funding website, not a version of this newsletter) made 300 percent of its goal to help get the project started, the Scranton, Pa.-based company said in a blog updating the project.

That money is needed to help pay the costs of creating prototypes to launch the figures.

"This means that packs of Plastic Army Women will now include 36 figures and 12 different poses and will be available in three colors: ... green, tan and pink," the company wrote. "I know some supporters don't like the idea of pink soldiers, but a lot of folks asked for the option."

The Strong Museum of Play, which houses the Toy Hall of Fame, is already asking to add prototypes and sketches to its collection.