diff --git a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/trace/span_processor_with_async_runtime.rs b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/trace/span_processor_with_async_runtime.rs
index dc3a7f273b..b6181912ec 100644
--- a/opentelemetry-sdk/src/trace/span_processor_with_async_runtime.rs
+++ b/opentelemetry-sdk/src/trace/span_processor_with_async_runtime.rs
@@ -15,6 +15,7 @@ use futures_util::{
 };
 use opentelemetry::Context;
 use opentelemetry::{otel_debug, otel_error, otel_warn};
+use std::collections::VecDeque;
 use std::fmt;
 use std::sync::atomic::{AtomicUsize, Ordering};
 use std::sync::Arc;
@@ -185,7 +186,7 @@ enum BatchMessage {
 }
 
 struct BatchSpanProcessorInternal<E, R> {
-    spans: Vec<SpanData>,
+    spans: VecDeque<SpanData>,
     export_tasks: FuturesUnordered<BoxFuture<'static, OTelSdkResult>>,
     runtime: R,
     exporter: E,
@@ -194,7 +195,7 @@ struct BatchSpanProcessorInternal<E, R> {
 
 impl<E: SpanExporter, R: RuntimeChannel> BatchSpanProcessorInternal<E, R> {
     async fn flush(&mut self, res_channel: Option<oneshot::Sender<OTelSdkResult>>) {
-        let export_result = self.export().await;
+        let export_result = self.export().await; // TODO: Move execution to `export_tasks`.
         let task = Box::pin(async move {
             if let Some(channel) = res_channel {
                 // If a response channel is provided, attempt to send the export result through it.
@@ -233,17 +234,31 @@ impl<E: SpanExporter, R: RuntimeChannel> BatchSpanProcessorInternal<E, R> {
         match message {
             // Span has finished, add to buffer of pending spans.
             BatchMessage::ExportSpan(span) => {
-                self.spans.push(span);
+                if self.spans.len() == self.config.max_queue_size {
+                    // Replace the oldest span with the new span to avoid suspending messages
+                    // processing.
+                    self.spans.pop_front();
+
+                    otel_warn!(
+                        name: "BatchSpanProcessor.Export.Error",
+                        dropped_spans = 1,
+                        max_queue_size = self.config.max_queue_size,
+                        message = "Spans were dropped due to a full queue / slow export. The count represents the total count of span records dropped in the lifetime of the BatchSpanProcessor. Consider increasing the queue size and/or decrease delay between intervals."
+                    );
+                }
+                self.spans.push_back(span);
 
-                if self.spans.len() == self.config.max_export_batch_size {
+                if self.spans.len() >= self.config.max_export_batch_size {
                     // If concurrent exports are saturated, wait for one to complete.
                     if !self.export_tasks.is_empty()
                         && self.export_tasks.len() == self.config.max_concurrent_exports
                     {
+                        // TODO: Refactor to avoid stopping message processing to not delay
+                        //       shutdown/resource set because of export saturation.
                         self.export_tasks.next().await;
                     }
 
-                    let export_result = self.export().await;
+                    let export_result = self.export().await; // TODO: Move execution to `export_tasks`.
                     let task = async move {
                         if let Err(err) = export_result {
                             otel_error!(
@@ -306,7 +321,8 @@ impl<E: SpanExporter, R: RuntimeChannel> BatchSpanProcessorInternal<E, R> {
             return Ok(());
         }
 
-        let export = self.exporter.export(self.spans.split_off(0));
+        let count = self.spans.len().min(self.config.max_export_batch_size);
+        let export = self.exporter.export(self.spans.drain(..count).collect());
         let timeout = self.runtime.delay(self.config.max_export_timeout);
         let time_out = self.config.max_export_timeout;
 
@@ -364,7 +380,7 @@ impl<R: RuntimeChannel> BatchSpanProcessor<R> {
 
             let messages = Box::pin(stream::select(message_receiver, ticker));
             let processor = BatchSpanProcessorInternal {
-                spans: Vec::new(),
+                spans: VecDeque::new(),
                 export_tasks: FuturesUnordered::new(),
                 runtime: timeout_runtime,
                 config,