Environmental watchdogs yesterday trashed the idea of fast food franchises in Bermuda.

And they took along a bag of fast food packaging collected in Hamilton to a meeting of a special committee set up to examine franchise rules to underline their point.

Keep Bermuda Beautiful made its case against fast food -- including a controversial plan to bring McDonald's to the Island -- before a special committee set up to examine the rules on franchising.

The trash was collected yesterday morning in a 20-minute walk around the city centre.

KBB administrator Venese Flood said: "It had a great visual impact and we said you can multiply that by two if you get a McDonald's.

"There is an obvious impact on the environment with the proliferation of fast food.'' KBB President Michael Faison added that part of the group's submission was to attempt to define the uniqueness of Bermuda.

He added: "If you have the images which are being beamed at the youth in Bermuda, you have them developing more towards the States -- but you can't take what they see over there and put it in 22 square miles.'' The committee was set up after Government triggered a storm of protest earlier this year by giving permission to a firm controlled by ex-Premier Sir John Swan to operate a McDonald's burger restaurant on the Island.

The move flew in the face of previous Government policy and contradicted a Bermuda Monetary Authority circular only months before Sir John's Grape Bay Ltd. got the go-ahead.

The committee includes Finance Minister Grant Gibbons, Tourism Minister David Dodwell and Environment Minister Pam Gordon, as well as anti-McDonald's campaigner Phyllis West-Harron.

The KBB submission said: "The law governing fast food franchises in Bermuda was re-examined after Kentucky Fried Chicken set up shop and consequently was altered to protect the Island's distinctive visual landscape.

"Bermudians had decided one fast food franchise was enough. It is the opinion -- 100 percent -- of the KBB committee that fast food and other food franchises have no place in Bermuda.

"As we all know, Bermuda is unique and its beauty is unparalleled -- to allow any more fast food franchises into Bermuda will cheapen the image that our Country has worked so hard to obtain.'' The KBB submission also quoted a host of towns in the US that had banned McDonald's and other fast food franchises to protect their images.

These include Sanibel Island, Florida; Carmel, California; Martha's Vineyard, Massachussetts; Cannon Beach, Oregon and Southold, New York State.

Ms Flood said: "If we are going to emulate any American culture, we should follow the lead of these places.'' KBB also argued that more fast food would mean more litter, further damaging Bermuda's image.

The organisation claimed more than 35 percent of the 681,000 pieces of litter to be found in Bermuda on any given day consisted of fast food packaging.

And the group added that studies proved that littered areas attract more litter.

The submission warned: "Once Bermuda is trashed, it will be very difficult to pull out of this environmental nosedive and retrieve the quality of life we once had.'' KBB also produced a host of letters to The Royal Gazette from visitors pleading with Bermuda to avoid the fast food trap.

Ms Flood said: "I think the committee were very interested in what we had to say and they asked us a lot of difficult questions -- it's a very difficult decision they are going to have to make.

"My impression was that they are very attentive but very divided. It's a diverse and balanced committee.

The McDonald's approval sparked a backbench revolt in the ruling United Bermuda Party. Rebel MPs voted with the Opposition to back UBP MP Ann Cartwright DeCouto's Prohibited Restaurants Act, designed to outlaw restaurants with a foreign flavour opened after May 10.

The bill later stalled in the Senate, but Mrs. Cartwright DeCouto said she would reintroduce it in the House. Senate can only block a bill for 12 months.

UBP rebels also voted with the PLP in a motion of censure against Premier David Saul for his role in the burger war. It was the first time a Premier has been censured by the House.