What does System.gc() and Runtime.gc() methods do? Technology Community › Category: Java › What does System.gc() and Runtime.gc() methods do? 0 Vote Up Vote Down VietMX Staff asked 4 years ago These methods can be used as a hint to the JVM, in order to start a garbage collection. However, this it is up to the Java Virtual Machine (JVM) to start the garbage collection immediately or later in time.