A garbage contractor has discovered a body in a bin in Tasmania.

On Monday, the worker found the 45-year-old father dead inside the industrial-sized garbage bin behind a bin in Percy St at Bellerie, in greater Hobart, about 9am.

“The garbage contractor attended the business premises as he would normally do,” Tasmania Police Detective Inspector David Gill said.

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“He lifted the lids on a number of large bins and found the male.”

The bin was behind a hairdressing salon and a Salvation Army, and the garbage contractor first thought the body was a mannequin.

Whether the death was a result of “misadventure or alternatively, foul play, or possibly a combination of both” is being investigated.

The 45-year-old man, whose name has not been made public, was known to police and had been homeless for a couple of months.

The area behind the shops on Percy St is known to be frequented by people sleeping rough, Gill said.

It is unclear if the man was sleeping in the bin.

The 45-year-old man had last been seen by his family on Saturday, about 7pm.

Gill said there were “no issues” with the man’s visit with his family.

The 45-year-old man did not appear to have any injuries when his body was found, but an autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

Police are appealing to the public for information relating to any movements around the Percy St area between Saturday night and Monday morning.