net_kernel garbage collection

[Thijs]

Is Erlang's hibernate not an option for you? You could use
erlang:hibernate() or if you decide to use a gen_server process,
return hibernate instead of a timeout.

http://erlang.org/doc/man/gen_server.html :
"If hibernate is specified instead of a timeout value, the process
will go into hibernation when waiting for the next message to arrive
(by calling proc_lib:hibernate/3). "