diff --git a/dokku b/dokku
index 6b4d00306..905d90733 100755
--- a/dokku
+++ b/dokku
@@ -122,9 +122,9 @@ case "$1" in
 
   cleanup)
     # delete all non-running container
-    docker ps -a | grep 'Exit' | awk '{print $1}' | xargs docker rm &> /dev/null &
+    docker rm $(docker ps -a -f "status=exited" -q) &> /dev/null &
     # delete unused images
-    docker images | grep '<none>' | awk '{print $3}' | xargs docker rmi &> /dev/null &
+    docker rmi $(docker images -f "dangling=true" -q) &> /dev/null &
     ;;
 
   plugins)
diff --git a/tests/unit/cleanup.bats b/tests/unit/cleanup.bats
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..3c21b490a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/unit/cleanup.bats
@@ -0,0 +1,35 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bats
+
+load test_helper
+
+setup() {
+  deploy_app
+}
+
+teardown() {
+  destroy_app
+}
+
+@test "remove exited containers" {
+  run dokku run $TEST_APP hostname
+  echo "output: "$output
+  echo "status: "$status
+  container="$output"
+  assert_success
+  run bash -c "docker ps -a -f 'status=exited' -q --no-trunc=false | grep -q $container"
+  echo "output: "$output
+  echo "status: "$status
+  assert_success
+  run dokku cleanup
+  echo "output: "$output
+  echo "status: "$status
+  assert_success
+  run bash -c "docker ps -a -f 'status=exited' -q --no-trunc=false | grep -q $container"
+  echo "output: "$output
+  echo "status: "$status
+  assert_failure
+  run bash -c "docker ps -a -f 'status=exited' -q --no-trunc=false"
+  echo "output: "$output
+  echo "status: "$status
+  assert_output ""
+}