diff --git a/logging-toolkit/Cargo.toml b/logging-toolkit/Cargo.toml
index 7a3b04643..972aaa758 100644
--- a/logging-toolkit/Cargo.toml
+++ b/logging-toolkit/Cargo.toml
@@ -10,5 +10,4 @@ edition = "2018"
 slog = "2.4.1"
 slog-term = "2.4.0"
 slog-json = "2.3.0"
-slog-async = "2.3.0"
 lazy_static = "1.2"
diff --git a/logging-toolkit/src/lib.rs b/logging-toolkit/src/lib.rs
index cd2a5320d..9816b67db 100644
--- a/logging-toolkit/src/lib.rs
+++ b/logging-toolkit/src/lib.rs
@@ -1,6 +1,5 @@
 #[macro_use]
 extern crate slog;
-extern crate slog_async;
 extern crate slog_json;
 extern crate slog_term;
 #[macro_use]
@@ -19,23 +18,6 @@ lazy_static! {
 }
 
 pub fn make_root_logger(use_json_env_name: &str, min_log_level_env_name: &str) -> Logger {
-    let drain = match env::var(use_json_env_name).as_ref().map(String::as_str) {
-        Ok("true") => {
-            let json_drain = slog_json::Json::new(std::io::stdout())
-                .add_default_keys()
-                .build()
-                .fuse();
-
-            slog_async::Async::new(json_drain).build().fuse()
-        }
-        _ => {
-            let term_decorator = slog_term::TermDecorator::new().build();
-            let term_drain = slog_term::FullFormat::new(term_decorator).build().fuse();
-
-            slog_async::Async::new(term_drain).build().fuse()
-        }
-    };
-
     let min_log_level = match env::var(min_log_level_env_name) {
         Ok(val) => match val.parse::<u64>() {
             Ok(parsed) => match Level::from_usize(parsed as usize) {
@@ -47,18 +29,33 @@ pub fn make_root_logger(use_json_env_name: &str, min_log_level_env_name: &str) -
         _ => Level::Info,
     };
 
-    let with_filter = LevelFilter::new(drain, min_log_level).map(slog::Fuse);
-
-    Logger::root(
-        with_filter,
-        o!("place" => FnValue(move |info| {
-            format!("{}:{} {}",
-                    info.file(),
-                    info.line(),
-                    info.module(),
-                    )
-        })),
-    )
+    let logging_config = o!("place" => FnValue(move |info| {
+        format!("{}:{} {}",
+                info.file(),
+                info.line(),
+                info.module(),
+                )
+    }));
+
+    let use_json_logger = env::var(use_json_env_name)
+        .map(|x| x == "true")
+        .unwrap_or(false);
+
+    if use_json_logger {
+        let formatted = slog_json::Json::new(std::io::stdout())
+            .add_default_keys()
+            .build()
+            .fuse();
+        let mutexed = std::sync::Mutex::new(formatted).fuse();
+        let filtered = LevelFilter::new(mutexed, min_log_level).map(slog::Fuse);
+        Logger::root(filtered, logging_config)
+    } else {
+        let term_decorator = slog_term::TermDecorator::new().build();
+        let formatted = slog_term::FullFormat::new(term_decorator).build().fuse();
+        let mutexed = std::sync::Mutex::new(formatted).fuse();
+        let filtered = LevelFilter::new(mutexed, min_log_level).map(slog::Fuse);
+        Logger::root(filtered, logging_config)
+    }
 }
 
 pub fn make_logger(root_name: &'static str) -> Logger {