title: How to properly dispose of ThreadLocal variables?
body: <p>What is the cleanest way to dispose of <code>ThreadLocal</code> variables so that they are subject to garbage collection? I read from the <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/ThreadLocal.html" rel="nofollow">docs</a> that:</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>...after a thread goes away, all of its copies of thread-local instances are subject to garbage collection (unless other references to these copies exist).</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>But sometimes threads can be pooled or are not expected to die. Does the <a href="http://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/lang/ThreadLocal.html#remove()" rel="nofollow"><code>ThreadLocal#remove()</code></a> method actually make the value subject to garbage collection?</p>