diff --git a/exec.cpp b/exec.cpp
index a59cd55ed..428978115 100644
--- a/exec.cpp
+++ b/exec.cpp
@@ -1054,8 +1054,6 @@ void exec(parser_t &parser, job_t *j)
                     p->completed = 1;
                 }
 
-                io_buffer_destroy(io_buffer);
-
                 io_buffer.reset();
                 break;
 
@@ -1455,7 +1453,6 @@ static int exec_subshell_internal(const wcstring &cmd, wcstring_list_t *lst)
         }
     }
 
-    io_buffer_destroy(io_buffer);
     return status;
 }
 
diff --git a/io.cpp b/io.cpp
index 37ca25a1c..6970a1c9d 100644
--- a/io.cpp
+++ b/io.cpp
@@ -161,19 +161,19 @@ io_buffer_t *io_buffer_create(bool is_input)
     return buffer_redirect;
 }
 
-void io_buffer_destroy(const shared_ptr<io_buffer_t> &io_buffer)
+io_buffer_t::~io_buffer_t()
 {
 
     /**
        If this is an input buffer, then io_read_buffer will not have
        been called, and we need to close the output fd as well.
     */
-    if (io_buffer->is_input)
+    if (is_input)
     {
-        exec_close(io_buffer->param1.pipe_fd[1]);
+        exec_close(param1.pipe_fd[1]);
     }
 
-    exec_close(io_buffer->param1.pipe_fd[0]);
+    exec_close(param1.pipe_fd[0]);
 
     /*
       Dont free fd for writing. This should already be free'd before
diff --git a/io.h b/io.h
index 4f0edd8ac..cc2a37667 100644
--- a/io.h
+++ b/io.h
@@ -128,6 +128,8 @@ public:
     {
     }
 
+    ~io_buffer_t();
+
     /** Function to create the output buffer */
     void out_buffer_create()
     {
@@ -199,11 +201,6 @@ shared_ptr<const io_data_t> io_chain_get(const io_chain_t &src, int fd);
 shared_ptr<io_data_t> io_chain_get(io_chain_t &src, int fd);
 
 
-/**
-   Free all resources used by a IO_BUFFER type io redirection.
-*/
-void io_buffer_destroy(const shared_ptr<io_buffer_t> &io_buffer);
-
 /**
    Create a IO_BUFFER type io redirection, complete with a pipe and a
    vector<char> for output. The default file descriptor used is 1 for
diff --git a/reader.cpp b/reader.cpp
index 693b220f5..56e9f8100 100644
--- a/reader.cpp
+++ b/reader.cpp
@@ -1158,9 +1158,6 @@ static void run_pager(const wcstring &prefix, int is_quoted, const std::vector<c
             input_unreadch(str.at(idx));
         }
     }
-
-    io_buffer_destroy(out);
-    io_buffer_destroy(in);
 }
 
 struct autosuggestion_context_t