POLICE say the body of a man wearing black boots found submerged in dirt and grass clippings in a wheelie bin inside a Melbourne storage unit died in “suspicious” circumstances.

Staff at Total Self Storage in Melbourne’s southeast found the body about 11am on Friday when they tipped over a storage container.

The bin inside the container had been held shut with octopus straps, which staff undid to find the remains wearing black boots.

Melbourne detectives identified the man but have not revealed his name.

Police were called to the business and the remains were quickly identified as belonging to a male.

A post mortem was conducted on the body and Victorian missing persons officers have now contacted the family of the deceased, but not yet released his name.

The storage container is reported to have been inside the facility undisturbed for years.

It was only discovered because the storage company had embarked on a general clear out of the premises.

Worker Philip Hutcherson told Channel 9, when he and other workers tipped over the container, soil fell out and they notice the wheelie bin with its lid strapped down.

“So we undone the straps and then it had grass, so we scraped it out and that’s when we’ve seen the legs … by the boots”.