CONCERNS have been raised over a clothing and shoes donation bin on Corams Lane, Wellington, which has been labelled by locals as a “magnet for fly tipping”.

The bright green donation bin outside Wellington Rugby Football Club is owned by the not-for-profit company Planet Aid, which donates some of its profits to charitable aid in India or Africa.

Laura Pashley, of Springfield Road, said: “When it first arrived on the street I thought it had been put there temporarily because there is no logical reason for it to be there, but it obviously did not disappear after a few days.”

“I knew very quickly that this was going to be a nightmare for fly tipping; and I was right.”

Laura says the clothing bin was placed on Corams Lane in mid November 2025 and has since seen frequent bags of clothes left on the street for weeks.

Laura has reported the fly tipping to Somerset Council every time she has seen it.

A pile of clothes that has been sat by the bin since December 30 was picked up by Somerset Council on January 7.

“I know this is not the crime of the century, but it is problematic that a visually intrusive and ugly bin is acting as a magnet for fly tipping.

“We have got loads of charity shops in Wellington that would appreciate these donations, but instead they are just left on the street.”

Over the last decade, Planet Aid has been under scrutiny from The American Institute of Philanthropy’s CharityWatch who dispute organisation's assessment of its charitable spending.

CharityWatch claim that Planet Aid do not distribute the vast majority of the clothing and goods it collects to needy people but sells the items for profit instead.

Not only is Planet Aid controversial, those living in the area near the clothing bin have expressed their concerns over an increase of fly tipping.

When the clothes are collected by Planet Aid, they are taken to the organisations warehouse in Cullompton which collects items from clothing bins from Somerset, Dorset, Devon and Cornwall.

Planet Aid say they have collected clothes in the UK since 1998 and in 2016 had more than 1,400 clothing banks installed at numerous locations across the UK.

To warn her neighbours about the Planet Aid company, Laura left a note on the clothing donation bin.

The note reads: “Hi neighbours, Planet Aid is not a charity. We have real charity shops in town. Planet Aid is owned by Birst Soe and linked to the Tvind fraud. They have extensive form for putting collection bins in unauthorised locations.”

Somerset Council, Wellington Town Council and Wellington Rugby Club have said that neither of them own the land the Planet Aid bin is on.

A spokesperson for Somerset Council said: “We are making inquiries into the placing of this bring bin. Residents can report incidents of fly-tipping here: Report fly tipping “

Planet Aid has been approached for comment.