diff --git a/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/producer/Producer.scala b/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/producer/Producer.scala
index 645f5f7ae..874fe8e3a 100644
--- a/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/producer/Producer.scala
+++ b/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/producer/Producer.scala
@@ -220,13 +220,12 @@ object Producer {
     settings: ProducerSettings
   ): ZIO[Scope, Throwable, Producer] =
     for {
-      runtime <- ZIO.runtime[Any]
       sendQueue <-
         Queue.bounded[(Chunk[ByteRecord], Promise[Nothing, Chunk[Either[Throwable, RecordMetadata]]])](
           settings.sendBufferSize
         )
-      producer = new ProducerLive(javaProducer, runtime, sendQueue)
-      _ <- ZIO.blocking(producer.sendFromQueue).forkScoped
+      producer = new ProducerLive(javaProducer, sendQueue)
+      _ <- producer.sendFromQueue.forkScoped
     } yield producer
 
   /**
@@ -362,7 +361,6 @@ object Producer {
 
 private[producer] final class ProducerLive(
   private[producer] val p: JProducer[Array[Byte], Array[Byte]],
-  runtime: Runtime[Any],
   sendQueue: Queue[(Chunk[ByteRecord], Promise[Nothing, Chunk[Either[Throwable, RecordMetadata]]])]
 ) extends Producer {
 
@@ -460,51 +458,52 @@ private[producer] final class ProducerLive(
 
   /**
    * Calls to send may block when updating metadata or when communication with the broker is (temporarily) lost,
-   * therefore this stream is run on a the blocking thread pool
+   * therefore this stream is run on the blocking thread pool.
    */
   val sendFromQueue: ZIO[Any, Nothing, Any] =
-    ZStream
-      .fromQueueWithShutdown(sendQueue)
-      .mapZIO { case (serializedRecords, done) =>
-        ZIO.succeed {
-          try {
-            val it: Iterator[(ByteRecord, Int)] = serializedRecords.iterator.zipWithIndex
-            val res: Array[Either[Throwable, RecordMetadata]] =
-              new Array[Either[Throwable, RecordMetadata]](serializedRecords.length)
-            val count: AtomicLong = new AtomicLong
-            val length            = serializedRecords.length
-
-            while (it.hasNext) {
-              val (rec, idx): (ByteRecord, Int) = it.next()
-
-              val _ = p.send(
-                rec,
-                (metadata: RecordMetadata, err: Exception) =>
-                  Unsafe.unsafe { implicit u =>
-                    exec {
-                      if (err != null) res(idx) = Left(err)
-                      else res(idx) = Right(metadata)
-
-                      if (count.incrementAndGet == length) {
-                        exec {
-                          runtime.unsafe.run(done.succeed(Chunk.fromArray(res))).getOrThrowFiberFailure()
-                        }
-                      }
-                    }
-                  }
-              )
-            }
-          } catch {
-            case NonFatal(e) =>
-              Unsafe.unsafe { implicit u =>
-                exec {
-                  runtime.unsafe.run(done.succeed(Chunk.fill(serializedRecords.size)(Left(e)))).getOrThrowFiberFailure()
+    ZIO.blocking {
+      ZStream
+        .fromQueueWithShutdown(sendQueue)
+        .mapZIO { case (serializedRecords, done) =>
+          sendChunk(serializedRecords)
+            .flatMap(done.succeed(_))
+        }
+        .runDrain
+    }
+
+  private def sendChunk(
+    serializedRecords: Chunk[ByteRecord]
+  ): ZIO[Any, Nothing, Chunk[Either[Throwable, RecordMetadata]]] =
+    ZIO
+      .async[Any, Nothing, Chunk[Either[Throwable, RecordMetadata]]] { callback =>
+        try {
+          val it: Iterator[(ByteRecord, Int)] = serializedRecords.iterator.zipWithIndex
+          val res: Array[Either[Throwable, RecordMetadata]] =
+            new Array[Either[Throwable, RecordMetadata]](serializedRecords.length)
+          val count: AtomicLong = new AtomicLong
+          val length            = serializedRecords.length
+
+          while (it.hasNext) {
+            val (rec, idx): (ByteRecord, Int) = it.next()
+
+            // Since we might be sending to multiple partitions, the callbacks
+            // are _not_ necessarily called in order.
+            p.send(
+              rec,
+              (metadata: RecordMetadata, err: Exception) => {
+                res(idx) = Either.cond(err == null, metadata, err)
+
+                if (count.incrementAndGet == length) {
+                  callback(ZIO.succeed(Chunk.fromArray(res)))
                 }
               }
+            )
           }
+        } catch {
+          case NonFatal(e) =>
+            callback(ZIO.succeed(Chunk.fill(serializedRecords.size)(Left(e))))
         }
       }
-      .runDrain
 
   private def serialize[R, K, V](
     r: ProducerRecord[K, V],
@@ -516,6 +515,4 @@ private[producer] final class ProducerLive(
       value <- valueSerializer.serialize(r.topic, r.headers, r.value())
     } yield new ProducerRecord(r.topic, r.partition(), r.timestamp(), key, value, r.headers)
 
-  /** Used to prevent warnings about not using the result of an expression. */
-  @inline private def exec[A](f: => A): Unit = { val _ = f }
 }
diff --git a/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/producer/TransactionalProducer.scala b/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/producer/TransactionalProducer.scala
index 173f43100..c27f90633 100644
--- a/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/producer/TransactionalProducer.scala
+++ b/zio-kafka/src/main/scala/zio/kafka/producer/TransactionalProducer.scala
@@ -96,12 +96,11 @@ object TransactionalProducer {
                      )(p => ZIO.attemptBlocking(p.close(settings.producerSettings.closeTimeout)).orDie)
       _         <- ZIO.attemptBlocking(rawProducer.initTransactions())
       semaphore <- Semaphore.make(1)
-      runtime   <- ZIO.runtime[Any]
       sendQueue <-
         Queue.bounded[(Chunk[ByteRecord], Promise[Nothing, Chunk[Either[Throwable, RecordMetadata]]])](
           settings.producerSettings.sendBufferSize
         )
-      live = new ProducerLive(rawProducer, runtime, sendQueue)
-      _ <- ZIO.blocking(live.sendFromQueue).forkScoped
+      live = new ProducerLive(rawProducer, sendQueue)
+      _ <- live.sendFromQueue.forkScoped
     } yield new LiveTransactionalProducer(live, semaphore)
 }