An international environmental group warned last night that the amount of plastic found in the Sargasso Sea off Bermuda was “much higher than expected”.

Celia Ojeda-Martinez, of Greenpeace, was speaking as part of a nine-month expedition on the organisation’s flagship Esperanza to monitor plastic waste in international waters.

The news was revealed as Greenpeace representatives presented their findings as part of their Protect the Oceans campaign at the World Heritage Centre in the Town of St George.

The event also featured other experts and a question-and-answer session with island and international panellists.

Anne Hyde, of Keep Bermuda Beautiful and the Bermuda Marine Debris Task Force, said that eight million tonnes of plastic was “dumped into global oceans each year” and that Bermuda had a “high density” of plastic waste compared to other countries.

Vanese Flood-Gordon, of the Ministry of Home Affairs, added that Bermuda produced “20,000 tonnes of waste per year” and that “20 per cent of our waste is plastic”.

She said the home affairs ministry had seen “ a distinct increase in plastics over time”.