diff --git a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/traffic/AbstractTrafficShapingHandler.java b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/traffic/AbstractTrafficShapingHandler.java
index 8009bbc245..868458e09b 100644
--- a/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/traffic/AbstractTrafficShapingHandler.java
+++ b/handler/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/traffic/AbstractTrafficShapingHandler.java
@@ -512,6 +512,15 @@ public abstract class AbstractTrafficShapingHandler implements ChannelHandler {
         ctx.fireChannelRead(msg);
     }
 
+    @Override
+    public void handlerRemoved(ChannelHandlerContext ctx) throws Exception {
+        Channel channel = ctx.channel();
+        if (channel.hasAttr(REOPEN_TASK)) {
+            //release the reopen task
+            channel.attr(REOPEN_TASK).set(null);
+        }
+    }
+
     /**
      * Method overridden in GTSH to take into account specific timer for the channel.
      * @param wait the wait delay computed in ms
diff --git a/handler/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/traffic/TrafficShapingHandlerTest.java b/handler/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/traffic/TrafficShapingHandlerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..070754bbd1
--- /dev/null
+++ b/handler/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/traffic/TrafficShapingHandlerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,125 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2020 The Netty Project
+ *
+ * The Netty Project licenses this file to you under the Apache License,
+ * version 2.0 (the "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License. You may obtain a copy of the License at:
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+ * distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT
+ * WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied. See the
+ * License for the specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+
+package io.netty.handler.traffic;
+
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNotNull;
+import static org.junit.Assert.assertNull;
+
+import java.util.concurrent.Executors;
+import java.util.concurrent.ScheduledExecutorService;
+
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandler;
+import io.netty.channel.MultithreadEventLoopGroup;
+import io.netty.channel.local.LocalHandler;
+import org.junit.AfterClass;
+import org.junit.Test;
+
+import io.netty.bootstrap.Bootstrap;
+import io.netty.bootstrap.ServerBootstrap;
+import io.netty.buffer.Unpooled;
+import io.netty.channel.Channel;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelHandlerContext;
+import io.netty.channel.ChannelInitializer;
+import io.netty.channel.local.LocalAddress;
+import io.netty.channel.local.LocalChannel;
+import io.netty.channel.local.LocalServerChannel;
+import io.netty.util.Attribute;
+import io.netty.util.CharsetUtil;
+
+public class TrafficShapingHandlerTest {
+
+    private static final long READ_LIMIT_BYTES_PER_SECOND = 1;
+    private static final ScheduledExecutorService SES = Executors.newSingleThreadScheduledExecutor();
+    private static final MultithreadEventLoopGroup GROUP =
+            new MultithreadEventLoopGroup(1, LocalHandler.newFactory());
+
+    @AfterClass
+    public static void destroy() {
+        GROUP.shutdownGracefully();
+        SES.shutdown();
+    }
+
+    @Test
+    public void testHandlerRemove() throws Exception {
+        testHandlerRemove0(new ChannelTrafficShapingHandler(0, READ_LIMIT_BYTES_PER_SECOND));
+        GlobalTrafficShapingHandler trafficHandler1 =
+                new GlobalTrafficShapingHandler(SES, 0, READ_LIMIT_BYTES_PER_SECOND);
+        try {
+            testHandlerRemove0(trafficHandler1);
+        } finally {
+            trafficHandler1.release();
+        }
+        GlobalChannelTrafficShapingHandler trafficHandler2 =
+                new GlobalChannelTrafficShapingHandler(SES, 0,
+                        READ_LIMIT_BYTES_PER_SECOND, 0, READ_LIMIT_BYTES_PER_SECOND);
+        try {
+            testHandlerRemove0(trafficHandler2);
+        } finally {
+            trafficHandler2.release();
+        }
+    }
+
+    private void testHandlerRemove0(final AbstractTrafficShapingHandler trafficHandler)
+            throws Exception {
+        Channel svrChannel = null;
+        Channel ch = null;
+        try {
+            ServerBootstrap serverBootstrap = new ServerBootstrap();
+            serverBootstrap.channel(LocalServerChannel.class).group(GROUP, GROUP)
+                    .childHandler(new ChannelInitializer<Channel>() {
+                        @Override
+                        protected void initChannel(Channel ch) {
+                            ch.pipeline().addLast(new ChannelHandler() {
+                                @Override
+                                public void channelRead(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Object msg)  {
+                                    ctx.writeAndFlush(msg);
+                                }
+                            });
+                        }
+                    });
+            final LocalAddress svrAddr = new LocalAddress("foo");
+            svrChannel = serverBootstrap.bind(svrAddr).sync().channel();
+            Bootstrap bootstrap = new Bootstrap();
+            bootstrap.channel(LocalChannel.class).group(GROUP).handler(new ChannelInitializer<Channel>() {
+                @Override
+                protected void initChannel(Channel ch) {
+                    ch.pipeline().addLast("traffic-shaping", trafficHandler);
+                }
+            });
+            ch = bootstrap.connect(svrAddr).sync().channel();
+            Attribute<Runnable> attr = ch.attr(AbstractTrafficShapingHandler.REOPEN_TASK);
+            assertNull(attr.get());
+            ch.writeAndFlush(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer("foo".getBytes(CharsetUtil.UTF_8)));
+            ch.writeAndFlush(Unpooled.wrappedBuffer("bar".getBytes(CharsetUtil.UTF_8))).await();
+            assertNotNull(attr.get());
+            final Channel clientChannel = ch;
+            ch.eventLoop().submit(() -> {
+                clientChannel.pipeline().remove("traffic-shaping");
+            }).await();
+            //the attribute--reopen task must be released.
+            assertNull(attr.get());
+        } finally {
+            if (ch != null) {
+                ch.close().sync();
+            }
+            if (svrChannel != null) {
+                svrChannel.close().sync();
+            }
+        }
+    }
+
+}