diff --git a/stratosphere-runtime/src/main/java/eu/stratosphere/runtime/io/channels/OutputChannel.java b/stratosphere-runtime/src/main/java/eu/stratosphere/runtime/io/channels/OutputChannel.java
index f4fed6592289324b2504ea89935dea8545a4fc55..b620f78a6a9719c00cc5ab8e6d5c1dbeab27ea44 100644
--- a/stratosphere-runtime/src/main/java/eu/stratosphere/runtime/io/channels/OutputChannel.java
+++ b/stratosphere-runtime/src/main/java/eu/stratosphere/runtime/io/channels/OutputChannel.java
@@ -66,6 +66,7 @@ public class OutputChannel extends Channel {
 
 		// discard empty buffers
 		if (buffer.size() == 0) {
+			buffer.recycleBuffer();
 			return;
 		}