Lowestoft could soon have a free bulky waste collection service in a bid to tackle fly-tipping.

Lowestoft Town Council's climate emergency and ecological committee has proposed the introduction of the free service to help low-income households and those without cars.

Councillor Wendy Brooks said the service would alternate between the Kirkley and Harbour wards each week.

She said: "This project came about because many people are fed up to the back teeth with fly-tipping.

"This would be a service offered by the town council for people who don't have a car to get to the tip, or for people who are strapped for cash.

"It would be a bookable service for people to phone up. You'd be booked in and the fully-licensed waste carriers would come and pick up your item and that would be it."

"Rough" quotes from contractors indicate the service could cost around £20,000 per year for fuel and labour, the committee heard.

East Suffolk Council currently offer a collection and disposal service for bulky items, which costs £47 for up to three items, plus £16 for every additional item.

Councillor Andy Pearce said: "There will always be people who fly-tip; we know that.

"But some of it is occurring because some people could not afford to pay for East Suffolk Council to collect it, or they did not have transport to get to the recycling centre, particularly for white goods.

"We can't go out and collect fly-tipping because another council has that statutory duty, but the only way to test the correlation is to see if there is a reduction from this.

"Whether fly-tipping of building waste goes up or down is immaterial because it's not what we're collecting, but if, for example, fly-tipping of white goods goes down, then there's a reasonable correlation to be drawn there."

The committee unanimously approved the proposal to a maximum budget of £25,000, subject to the agreement of Suffolk County Council waiving recycling centre fees, and to put in place measurement criteria before the trial begins.

The matter will need approval from Lowestoft Town Council at its next full council meeting on October 25.

If approved, the scheme could start on December 1.