as described here: http://www.erlang.org/doc/efficiency_guide/binaryhandling.html http://www.erlang.org/doc/efficiency_guide/binaryhandling.ht... Binaries are

as described here: http://www.erlang.org/doc/efficiency_guide/binaryhandling.html http://www.erlang.org/doc/efficiency_guide/binaryhandling.ht... Binaries are either stored on a private heap or in a global area where they are reference counted. Binary reference counting depends on ProcBin objects stored on a process heap. Reference counting is only effective when garbage collection occurs, thus forcing an explicit collection on an process removes the ProbBin objects. The system has no way of knowing if a collection should be triggered to free ref counted memory. Collection is local to a process.