diff --git a/conf/init/service/queuecleanupworker/log/run b/conf/init/service/queuecleanupworker/log/run
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..ec239adfa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/init/service/queuecleanupworker/log/run
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+#!/bin/sh
+exec logger -i -t queuecleanupworker
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/conf/init/service/queuecleanupworker/run b/conf/init/service/queuecleanupworker/run
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..ba04d5019
--- /dev/null
+++ b/conf/init/service/queuecleanupworker/run
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+#! /bin/bash
+
+echo 'Starting Queue cleanup worker'
+
+cd /
+venv/bin/python -m workers.queuecleanupworker 2>&1
+
+echo 'Repository Queue cleanup exited'
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/workers/queuecleanupworker.py b/workers/queuecleanupworker.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..8bd8713e3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/workers/queuecleanupworker.py
@@ -0,0 +1,39 @@
+import logging
+
+from app import app
+from data.database import UseThenDisconnect, QueueItem
+from workers.worker import Worker
+from datetime import timedelta, datetime
+
+logger = logging.getLogger(__name__)
+
+DELETION_DATE_THRESHOLD = timedelta(days=7)
+DELETION_COUNT_THRESHOLD = 50
+BATCH_SIZE = 500
+QUEUE_CLEANUP_FREQUENCY = app.config.get('QUEUE_CLEANUP_FREQUENCY', 60*60*24)
+
+class QueueCleanupWorker(Worker):
+  def __init__(self):
+    super(QueueCleanupWorker, self).__init__()
+    self.add_operation(self._cleanup_queue, QUEUE_CLEANUP_FREQUENCY)
+
+  def _cleanup_queue(self):
+    """ Performs garbage collection on the queueitem table. """
+    with UseThenDisconnect(app.config):
+      while True:
+        # Find all queue items older than the threshold (typically a week) that have no additional
+        # retries and delete them.
+        threshold_ago = datetime.now() - DELETION_DATE_THRESHOLD
+        to_delete = list(QueueItem.select().where(QueueItem.processing_expires >= threshold_ago,
+                                                  QueueItem.retries_remaining == 0)
+                                  .limit(BATCH_SIZE))
+
+        if len(to_delete) < DELETION_COUNT_THRESHOLD:
+          return
+
+        QueueItem.delete().where(QueueItem.id << to_delete).execute()
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+  worker = QueueCleanupWorker()
+  worker.start()