diff --git a/exporters/otlp/include/opentelemetry/exporters/otlp/recordable.h b/exporters/otlp/include/opentelemetry/exporters/otlp/recordable.h
index 820fa991c9..6ebe0511aa 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/include/opentelemetry/exporters/otlp/recordable.h
+++ b/exporters/otlp/include/opentelemetry/exporters/otlp/recordable.h
@@ -20,7 +20,7 @@ class Recordable final : public sdk::trace::Recordable
   const proto::trace::v1::Span &span() const noexcept { return span_; }
 
   /** Dynamically converts the resource of this span into a proto. */
-  void PopulateProtoResource(proto::resource::v1::Resource *resource) const noexcept;
+  proto::resource::v1::Resource ProtoResource() const noexcept;
 
   void SetIdentity(const opentelemetry::trace::SpanContext &span_context,
                    opentelemetry::trace::SpanId parent_span_id) noexcept override;
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/src/otlp_exporter.cc b/exporters/otlp/src/otlp_exporter.cc
index 9f96b298d4..7a1a56c26c 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/src/otlp_exporter.cc
+++ b/exporters/otlp/src/otlp_exporter.cc
@@ -32,13 +32,8 @@ void PopulateRequest(const nostd::span<std::unique_ptr<sdk::trace::Recordable>>
 
     if (!has_resource)
     {
-      std::unique_ptr<proto::resource::v1::Resource> proto_resource{
-          new proto::resource::v1::Resource};
-
-      rec->PopulateProtoResource(proto_resource.get());
-
-      resource_span->set_allocated_resource(proto_resource.release());
-      has_resource = true;
+      *resource_span->mutable_resource() = rec->ProtoResource();
+      has_resource                       = true;
     }
   }
 }
diff --git a/exporters/otlp/src/recordable.cc b/exporters/otlp/src/recordable.cc
index 08220f0be9..666a370574 100644
--- a/exporters/otlp/src/recordable.cc
+++ b/exporters/otlp/src/recordable.cc
@@ -216,15 +216,18 @@ void PopulateAttribute(opentelemetry::proto::common::v1::KeyValue *attribute,
   }
 }
 
-void Recordable::PopulateProtoResource(proto::resource::v1::Resource *proto) const noexcept
+proto::resource::v1::Resource Recordable::ProtoResource() const noexcept
 {
+  proto::resource::v1::Resource proto;
   if (resource_)
   {
     for (const auto &kv : resource_->GetAttributes())
     {
-      PopulateAttribute(proto->add_attributes(), kv.first, kv.second);
+      PopulateAttribute(proto.add_attributes(), kv.first, kv.second);
     }
   }
+
+  return proto;
 }
 
 void Recordable::SetResource(const opentelemetry::sdk::resource::Resource &resource) noexcept