diff --git a/playbooks/common-tasks/remove_container_journal.yml b/playbooks/common-tasks/remove_container_journal.yml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..1cb9f5f1e9
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playbooks/common-tasks/remove_container_journal.yml
@@ -0,0 +1,23 @@
+---
+# Copyright 2018, Rackspace US, Inc.
+#
+# Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+# you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+# You may obtain a copy of the License at
+#
+#     http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+#
+# Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+# distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+# WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+# See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+# limitations under the License.
+
+- name: Destroy container journal directories
+  file:
+    path: "/var/log/journal/{{ container_machine_id }}"
+    state: "absent"
+  delegate_to: "{{ physical_host }}"
+  when:
+    - not _container_machine_id is failed
+    - force_containers_destroy | bool
diff --git a/playbooks/containers-lxc-destroy.yml b/playbooks/containers-lxc-destroy.yml
index 99eb45ecbe..c4d6668a3f 100644
--- a/playbooks/containers-lxc-destroy.yml
+++ b/playbooks/containers-lxc-destroy.yml
@@ -32,6 +32,15 @@
   gather_facts: false
   user: root
   tasks:
+    - name: Slurp machine-id
+      slurp:
+        src: "/etc/machine-id"
+      register: _container_machine_id
+      changed_when: false
+      failed_when: false
+      tags:
+        - always
+
     - name: Destroy a container
       lxc_container:
         name: "{{ container_name }}"
@@ -40,6 +49,11 @@
       when:
         - force_containers_destroy | bool
         - force_containers_data_destroy | bool
+
+    - include_tasks: "common-tasks/remove_container_journal.yml"
+      vars:
+        container_machine_id: "{{ ((_container_machine_id.content | default('bm9uZQo=')) | b64decode).strip() }}"
+
     - name: Destroy container service directories
       file:
         path: "{{ item }}"
diff --git a/playbooks/containers-nspawn-destroy.yml b/playbooks/containers-nspawn-destroy.yml
index d09646e794..7e0bb71e63 100644
--- a/playbooks/containers-nspawn-destroy.yml
+++ b/playbooks/containers-nspawn-destroy.yml
@@ -50,6 +50,12 @@
       register: systemd_escape
       delegate_to: "{{ physical_host }}"
 
+    - name: Get machine-id
+      command: >-
+        hostnamectl --machine="{{ inventory_hostname }}" status | awk '/Machine ID/ {print $3}'
+      register: _container_machine_id
+      delegate_to: "{{ physical_host }}"
+
     - name: Disable container
       systemd:
         name: "systemd-nspawn@{{ systemd_escape.stdout }}"
@@ -75,6 +81,10 @@
         - machinectl_image_status.rc == 0
         - force_containers_destroy | bool
 
+    - include_tasks: "common-tasks/remove_container_journal.yml"
+      vars:
+        container_machine_id: "{{ (_container_machine_id.stdout).strip() }}"
+
     - name: Destroy container data
       file:
         path: "{{ item }}"