Axing a recycling centre which is the 7th most well-used in Norfolk would be "unwise" and could lead to more fly-tipping, county councillors have been told.
Ahead of a crunch Norfolk County Council decision on the fate of Mayton Wood Recycling Centre, councillors were warned older people could be particularly hard-hit if it were to be shut.
The Conservative-controlled council mooted the closure of the tip, near Coltishall, to save £70,000, saying usage has dropped since Norwich North Recycling Centre, off the Northern Distributor Road, opened.
The council's cabinet will make a decision on October 2, but Dan Roper, Liberal Democrat county councillor for Hevingham and Spixworth, used a meeting of the authority's scrutiny committee to call for it to remain open.
He said: "I want to dispel the idea this is a small recycling centre that nobody uses anymore.
"If you look at the league table of the 20 recycling centres in Norfolk, it is number seven in terms of the most used in Norfolk.
"It processes 5pc of the tonnage of the waste which goes through our recycling centres."
Mr Roper said people from areas such as Wroxham, Aylsham and North Walsham used the centre and older people in rural areas would be particularly affected by being asked to travel to other tips.
Almost 900 people responded to County Hall's six-week summer consultation over its plans to shut the centre - with more than 90pc against the closure.
Mr Roper said he did not think people would travel to the council's suggested alternatives - Norwich North or Worstead - and warned that could lead to more fly-tipping or people putting recycling in with general waste.
Officers said the closure of Ketteringham Recycling Centre when the tip at Norwich South opened had not led to more recycling.
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Brian Watkins, leader of the Liberal Democrat group at County Hall, said: "I think, in this instance, the closure would be unwise and a false economy as well."
He proposed the scrutiny committee should recommend to cabinet that the centre should not be closed, but his proposal was not passed.
Eric Vardy, the council's cabinet member for environment and waste, said the views would be taken into account when the decision is made.
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