2 of 5 | Water runs out of a drain under an agricultural field, Tuesday, April 9, 2024, in Sabina, Ohio. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel, File) 3 of 5 | Alexandra Water Warriors volunteers cleanup the Juksei river in the heart of Alexandra township from plastic pollution in Johannesburg, South Africa, Nov. 27, 2024. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File) 4 of 5 | A crew applies biosolids, also known as sewage sludge, to a field, Monday, Feb. 17, 2025, in Wellston, Okla. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel) Muddy plastic bottles have flowed downstream and become lodged against fallen trees and within the dense foliage in Tisza River near Tiszaroff, Hungary, Aug. 1, 2023. (AP Photo/Denes Erdos, File) KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — In Uganda’s Mbale district, famous for its production of arabica coffee, a plague of plastic bags locally known as buveera is creeping beyond the city. It’s a problem that has long littered the landscape in Kampala, the capital, where buveera are woven into the fabric of daily life. They show up in layers of excavated dirt roads and clog waterways. But now, they can be found in remote areas of farmland, too. Some of the debris includes the thick plastic bags used for planting coffee seeds in nurseries. Some farmers are complaining, said Wilson Watira, head of a cultural board for the coffee-growing Bamasaba people. “They are concerned – those farmers who know the effects of buveera on the land,” he said. Around the world, plastics find their way into farm fields. Climate change makes agricultural plastic, already a necessity for many crops, even more unavoidable for some farmers. Meanwhile, research continues to show that itty-bitty microplastics alter ecosystems and end up in human bodies. Scientists, farmers and consumers all worry about how that’s affecting human health, and many seek […]