destruction of instance objects python comes with an automatic garbage collector each object created is kept track of through reference counting each time an object is assigned to variableits reference count goes up by onesignifying the fact that there is one more variable holding reference to the object and each time variable whose referent object either goes out of scope or is changedthe reference count associated with the object is decreased by one when the reference count associated with an object goes to zeroit becomes candidate for garbage collection python provides us with del (for cleaning up beyond what is done by automatic garbage collection purdue university