A Northern Territory man has been collected by a rubbish truck after falling asleep in a dumpster in Palmerston, about 20 kilometres from Darwin.

The driver found the 30-year-old after hearing noises coming from the back of the truck this morning.

Police, fire and ambulance officers went to the scene to rescue the man, who was then taken to hospital with a shoulder injury.

A statement from Duty Superintendent Louise Jorgensen said sleeping in dumpsters was "never recommended".

"He was very lucky not to have suffered serious injury as apparently a number of other collections were made after his dumpster was emptied," she said.