diff --git a/core/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/core/util/objects/pooling/PhantomLoggingHelper.java b/core/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/core/util/objects/pooling/PhantomLoggingHelper.java
index 022708a51..4adeab225 100644
--- a/core/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/core/util/objects/pooling/PhantomLoggingHelper.java
+++ b/core/src/main/java/com/seibel/distanthorizons/core/util/objects/pooling/PhantomLoggingHelper.java
@@ -1,9 +1,17 @@
 package com.seibel.distanthorizons.core.util.objects.pooling;
 
 import com.seibel.distanthorizons.core.logging.DhLogger;
+import com.seibel.distanthorizons.core.logging.DhLoggerBuilder;
+import com.seibel.distanthorizons.core.logging.f3.F3Screen;
+import com.seibel.distanthorizons.core.util.ThreadUtil;
 import com.seibel.distanthorizons.core.util.objects.Pair;
 
+import java.lang.ref.PhantomReference;
+import java.lang.ref.Reference;
+import java.lang.ref.ReferenceQueue;
 import java.util.ArrayList;
+import java.util.concurrent.ConcurrentHashMap;
+import java.util.concurrent.ThreadPoolExecutor;
 import java.util.concurrent.atomic.AtomicInteger;
 
 public class PhantomLoggingHelper
@@ -57,4 +65,168 @@ public class PhantomLoggingHelper
 	
 	
 	
+	//================//
+	// helper classes //
+	//================//
+	//region
+	
+	/**
+	 * Can be quickly added to a {@link AutoCloseable} implementing
+	 * class to confirm it's being properly closed.
+	 */
+	public static class BasicPhantomReference implements AutoCloseable
+	{
+		private static final DhLogger LOGGER = new DhLoggerBuilder().build();
+		
+		/** if enabled the number of GC'ed buffers will be logged */
+		private static final boolean LOG_PHANTOM_RECOVERY = true;
+		/**
+		 * If enabled the GC'ed buffers allocation/upload stacks will be logged. 
+		 * Note: due to how the buffers are often run on the render thread,
+		 * these stacks will likely only be of limited use.
+		 * For more robust debugging it would likely be best to somehow track
+		 * the stacks of where these calls are happening before they're queued
+		 * for the render thread.
+		 */
+		private static final boolean LOG_PHANTOM_ALLOCATION_STACKS = true;
+		
+		private static final int PHANTOM_REF_CHECK_TIME_IN_MS = 5 * 1000;
+		private static final ReferenceQueue<BasicPhantomReference> PHANTOM_REFERENCE_QUEUE = new ReferenceQueue<>();
+		private static final ConcurrentHashMap<PhantomReference<? extends BasicPhantomReference>, Class<?>> PHANTOM_TO_PARENT_CLASS = new ConcurrentHashMap<>();
+		
+		private static final ThreadPoolExecutor CLEANUP_THREAD = ThreadUtil.makeSingleDaemonThreadPool("BasicPhantom Cleanup");
+		
+		
+		private final Class<?> parentClass;
+		private final PhantomReference<? extends BasicPhantomReference> phantomReference; 
+		
+		
+		
+		//==============//
+		// constructors //
+		//==============//
+		//region
+		
+		static { CLEANUP_THREAD.execute(() -> runPhantomReferenceCleanupLoop()); }
+		
+		public BasicPhantomReference(Class<?> parentClass)
+		{
+			this.parentClass = parentClass;
+			this.phantomReference = new PhantomReference<>(this, PHANTOM_REFERENCE_QUEUE);
+			PHANTOM_TO_PARENT_CLASS.put(this.phantomReference, this.parentClass);
+		}
+		
+		//endregion
+		
+		
+		
+		//================//
+		// base overrides //
+		//================//
+		//region
+		
+		@Override 
+		public void close()
+		{
+			this.phantomReference.clear();
+			PHANTOM_TO_PARENT_CLASS.remove(this.phantomReference);
+		}
+		
+		//endregion
+		
+		
+		
+		//================//
+		// static cleanup //
+		//================//
+		//region
+		
+		private static void runPhantomReferenceCleanupLoop()
+		{
+			// these arrays are stored here so they don't have to be re-allocated each loop
+			ArrayList<Pair<String, AtomicInteger>> allocationStackTraceCountPairList = new ArrayList<>();
+			ArrayList<Pair<String, AtomicInteger>> parentClassNameCountPairList = new ArrayList<>();
+			
+			while (true)
+			{
+				allocationStackTraceCountPairList.clear();
+				parentClassNameCountPairList.clear();
+				
+				try
+				{
+					try
+					{
+						Thread.sleep(PHANTOM_REF_CHECK_TIME_IN_MS);
+					}
+					catch (InterruptedException ignore) { }
+					
+					int collectedCount = 0;
+					
+					Reference<? extends BasicPhantomReference> phantomRef = PHANTOM_REFERENCE_QUEUE.poll();
+					while (phantomRef != null)
+					{
+						// destroy the buffer if it hasn't been cleared yet
+						Class<?> parentClass = PHANTOM_TO_PARENT_CLASS.remove((PhantomReference<? extends BasicPhantomReference>)phantomRef); // cast to make IntelliJ happy
+						{
+							String parentClassName = "NULL";
+							if (parentClass != null)
+							{
+								parentClassName = parentClass.getSimpleName();
+							}
+							
+							PhantomLoggingHelper.putAndIncrementTrackingString(parentClassName, parentClassNameCountPairList);
+							//LOGGER.info("Phantom collected for class: [" + parentClassName + "]");
+						}
+							
+						
+						//if (LOG_PHANTOM_ALLOCATION_STACKS) // stack trace shouldn't be null, but just in case
+						//{
+						//	String stack = BUFFER_ID_TO_ALLOCATION_STRING.get(idRef);
+						//	if (stack != null)
+						//	{
+						//		PhantomLoggingHelper.putAndIncrementTrackingString(stack, allocationStackTraceCountPairList);
+						//	}
+						//}
+						
+						
+						collectedCount++;
+						phantomRef = PHANTOM_REFERENCE_QUEUE.poll();
+					}
+					
+					
+					
+					if (LOG_PHANTOM_RECOVERY)
+					{
+						// we only want to log when something has been returned
+						if (collectedCount != 0)
+						{
+							LOGGER.warn("Phantoms collected: ["+ F3Screen.NUMBER_FORMAT.format(collectedCount)+"].");
+							
+							PhantomLoggingHelper.LogAllocationStackTracePairCounts(LOGGER, parentClassNameCountPairList);
+							
+							//// log stack traces if present
+							//if (LOG_PHANTOM_ALLOCATION_STACKS)
+							//{
+							//	PhantomLoggingHelper.LogAllocationStackTracePairCounts(LOGGER, allocationStackTraceCountPairList);
+							//}
+						}
+					}
+					
+				}
+				catch (Exception e)
+				{
+					LOGGER.error("Unexpected error in buffer cleanup thread: [" + e.getMessage() + "].", e);
+				}
+			}
+		}
+		
+		//endregion
+		
+		
+	}
+	
+	//endregion
+	
+	
+	
 }