diff --git a/elements/base/cleanup.d/99-tidy-logs b/elements/base/cleanup.d/99-tidy-logs
deleted file mode 100755
index 9274a7b0b..000000000
--- a/elements/base/cleanup.d/99-tidy-logs
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,30 +0,0 @@
-#!/bin/bash
-#
-# Copyright 2014 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.
-# All Rights Reserved.
-#
-# Licensed 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.
-#
-
-if [ ${DIB_DEBUG_TRACE:-1} -gt 0 ]; then
-    set -x
-fi
-set -eu
-set -o pipefail
-
-# Truncate /var/log files in preparation for first boot
-sudo find $TARGET_ROOT/var/log -type f -exec cp /dev/null '{}' \;
-
-# also /root logs
-sudo find $TARGET_ROOT/root -name \*.log -type f -delete
-
diff --git a/lib/img-functions b/lib/img-functions
index d803cc81c..bb74321aa 100644
--- a/lib/img-functions
+++ b/lib/img-functions
@@ -110,6 +110,10 @@ function finalise_base () {
         unmount_dir $TMP_MOUNT_PATH/tmp
     fi
     find $TMP_MOUNT_PATH/tmp -maxdepth 1 -mindepth 1 | xargs sudo rm -rf --one-file-system
+    # Truncate /var/log files in preparation for first boot
+    sudo find ${TMP_MOUNT_PATH}/var/log -type f -exec cp /dev/null '{}' \;
+    # also /root logs
+    sudo find ${TMP_MOUNT_PATH}/root -name \*.log -type f -delete
 }
 
 function compress_and_save_image () {
diff --git a/releasenotes/notes/move_tidy_logs_to_main-a8c03427fe1a445c.yaml b/releasenotes/notes/move_tidy_logs_to_main-a8c03427fe1a445c.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..fbd729561
--- /dev/null
+++ b/releasenotes/notes/move_tidy_logs_to_main-a8c03427fe1a445c.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+---
+features:
+  - Cleaning logs was split, some was done in the
+    img-functions.finalise_base, some was done in the base element.
+    The version unifies tidy up logs in the lib/img-functions.
+    Especially when building docker container images the base element
+    cannot be used. This patch removes about some hundreds KB of
+    useless logs in cases when the base element is not used.
\ No newline at end of file