A family has been praised for their generosity this Christmas after leaving a heartwarming gift for their rubbish collectors.

An image has emerged online showing what appears to be two bottles of wine wrapped up in Christmas paper and placed next to the rubbish and recycling bins.

The photo was uploaded to Reddit and captioned: "Good to see the Aussie trust is still strong, leaving booze out for the garbos."

Thousands have taken to social media to thank the kind family for their thoughtfulness as well as give well-wishes to their own rubbish collectors.

"I know it's their job and they get paid to do it but sometimes it's just nice to be recognised and appreciated," one person said.

Another wrote: "Aw I wish I'd thought of this before my last bin night."

The post has people around the world reminiscing about what they've done for rubbish collectors and milkmen.

"My dad is a garbo and he is always so grateful when people leave gifts," one person wrote.

"At Christmas he buys a 10kg bag of lollipops and hands them out to the kids on his run as they always wave at the truck and come out to say hello. The kids love it!"

Another said: "My mum used to leave beer out for the milkman at Christmas. When she found out that the milkman was actually a milkwoman, she was quite embarrassed, but pleased when the milkwoman said that she likes beer."

Back in 2016, Mt Albert resident Alexis Goatley (5 years old at the time) spread the Christmas love by giving the rubbish truck man Terrence gifts after becoming obsessed with them from a young age.

Alexis got to meet his hero after his dad Richard got in touch with Auckland Council to ask them how they could send him a Christmas present.

"With Christmas approaching Alexis suggested we appreciate the rubbish man and we thought that was a great idea because we live in a beautiful city and part of keeping it beautiful is the rubbish," Richard told the Herald.

In a surprising twist, Terrence was the one who brought along gifts for Alexis and his younger brother Xavier, a beach bag with a towel and sunscreen, which they loved.