diff --git a/conf/hbase-env.sh b/conf/hbase-env.sh
index d9879c62809..1ac93ccc8a5 100644
--- a/conf/hbase-env.sh
+++ b/conf/hbase-env.sh
@@ -41,7 +41,7 @@
 # Below are what we set by default.  May only work with SUN JVM.
 # For more on why as well as other possible settings,
 # see http://hbase.apache.org/book.html#performance
-export HBASE_OPTS="-XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC"
+export HBASE_OPTS="$HBASE_OPTS -XX:+UseConcMarkSweepGC"
 
 # Uncomment one of the below three options to enable java garbage collection logging for the server-side processes.