A renewable resource is a resource that can be recreated indefinitely (as opposed to a nonrenewable resource). While running out of resources isn't likely to be a factor due to practically infinite (and still quite vast in theory) map generation, this is a list of resources that can be produced over and over without having to explore for more. However, running out of resources can be a bigger issue on Superflat worlds, where resources are less plentiful.
The listed fully renewable products are items which can be crafted or smelted using only renewable resources. Note that TNT and arrows are crafted from a combination of renewable and non-renewable resources (sand and flint).
Fully renewable resources
These resources do not require any nonrenewable items in order to be collected.
| Resource | Fully renewable products | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Arrows |
— | Dropped by killed skeletons. |
| Beef |
Dropped by killed cows. | |
| Blaze Rods [note 1] |
Dropped by killed blazes. | |
| Bones |
Dropped by killed skeletons. | |
| Bows |
— | Rarely dropped by killed skeletons. Can also be crafted by sticks and string. |
| Cactus [note 2] |
Will grow to 3 blocks high and can be trimmed or replanted. Must first be found in the world. Will continue to grow even if the sand block is used again. | |
| Chicken Eggs |
Dropped roughly every 5-10 minutes by living chickens. Can be thrown to make more chickens. | |
| Cobblestone and Stone [note 3] |
Stone BrickStone Bricks SlabPowered Minecart | Created by letting lava flow over or against Water. |
| Crops [note 4] |
Harvesting crops may produce seeds, which can be used to produce more crops. Seeds can also be harvested from Tall Grass. | |
| Ender Pearls Enderpearl |
Dropped by killed endermen. | |
| Experience Orb File:XP orb animation.gif |
— | Dropped by any mob killed by the player except for villagers, all golems, and baby animals. Also dropped by other players on SMP, if they have collected any orbs, who respawn upon death. |
| Feathers |
Dropped by killed chickens | |
| Fish |
Obtained by fishing using a Fishing Rod. | |
| Flowers FlowersFlowers [note 4] |
Can occasionally spawn when Bone Meal is used to generate patches of Tall Grass. Roses are sometimes dropped by killed Iron Golems. | |
| Ghast Tears [note 1] |
— | Dropped by killed ghasts. |
| Gold Nuggets and Gold Ingots [note 5][note 1] |
Gold (Block) Gold SwordGold PickaxeGold ShovelGold AxeGold Hoe Gold HelmetGold ChestplateGold LeggingsGold Boots |
In very rare instances, Zombie Pigmen can spawn in the overworld. |
| Gold Swords and Gold Helmets Gold SwordGold Helmet [note 5] |
— | Rare drop of Zombie Pigmen. |
| Gunpowder |
Dropped by killed creepers and ghasts. | |
| Ink Sacs |
Dropped by killed squid. | |
| Iron Ingots Iron (Ingot) |
Iron (Block) Powered MinecartStorage MinecartRails |
Dropped by killed Iron Golems and rarely dropped by killed zombies. |
| Leather |
Dropped by killed cows. | |
| Magma Cream [note 1] |
— | Dropped by killed magma cubes. |
| Melon Seeds [note 4] |
Melon Seeds are only found in Abandoned Mine Shafts. They can be renewed once grown by breaking a melon stem, or crafting them from melon slices. | |
| Milk | Obtained by milking cows or mooshrooms with a bucket. | |
| Mushrooms MushroomsMushrooms |
Using Bone Meal on normal mushrooms will grow them into Huge Mushrooms, if there is enough space, which can then be broken to get more of the normal mushroom. Normal mushrooms also spread slowly on their own. Also, mooshrooms can be sheared for red mushrooms or milked for Mushroom Stew, which can also be crafted with a bowl and both mushrooms. | |
| Music Discs Music DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic Discs |
— | Get a skeleton to kill a creeper with its arrows. |
| Nether Wart Nether Wart Seeds [note 6] |
— | Harvested from fully grown nether wart. |
| Pork |
Dropped by killed pigs. | |
| Pumpkin Seeds Pumpkin seeds [note 4] |
Jack-O-Lantern | Pumpkin Seeds are found in Abandoned Mine Shafts. You can also get seeds from putting a pumpkin in a crafting table or by breaking Pumpkin Stems. |
| Raw Chicken |
Dropped by killed chickens. | |
| Rotten Flesh |
— | Dropped by killed zombies and Zombie Pigmen. |
| Saplings and Trees SaplingSapling SpruceSapling BirchSapling Jungle [note 4] [note 7] |
WoodWood (Pine)Wood (Birch)Wood (Jungle)Red AppleLeavesLeaves (Pine)Leaves (Birch)Leaves (Jungle)Wooden PlankWooden Plank (Pine)Wooden Plank (Birch)Wooden Plank (Jungle)Wooden StairsWooden Pressure PlateJack-O-LanternTrapdoorLaddersFenceFence GateWooden DoorRailsSignStorage MinecartCharcoal (Item)Bed Gold SwordGold PickaxeGold ShovelGold AxeGold Hoe |
Trees can be grown from saplings placed on lit dirt; breaking a leaves block has a 5% chance of giving a sapling. See tree farming. Charcoal can be produced by smelting any kind of log. Leaves can be obtained by harvesting with shears. |
| Slimeballs |
Dropped by killed slimes. | |
| Snowballs |
Snow (Block) | Snow is replaced whenever it snows, and is also produced by Snow Golems. |
| Spider Eye |
Dropped by killed spiders. | |
| String |
Bed |
Dropped by killed spiders. |
| Sugar Canes [note 4] |
Will grow to 3 blocks high and can be trimmed or replanted. Must first be found in the world. | |
| Tall Grass [note 4] |
Bonemeal being used on grass blocks plants tall grass on the ground. To harvest tall grass, one must also use shears made from iron. | |
| Vines [note 4] |
— | Found on jungle trees and swamp trees. When attached (hanging), they grow naturally if there is open space below. To harvest vines, one must also use shears made from iron. |
| Water |
Two water spring blocks in the appropriate pattern produce a third; see water for details. | |
| Wool |
Bed | Obtained by killing sheep (or shearing and regrowing as of 1.1.0), crafting 4 strings dropped by spiders, by breeding two sheep which will result in a child with the same color of wool as the parents, or by using shears on sheep. Six of the shown colors (white, light gray, gray, black, brown and pink) occur naturally in sheep; green, lime, red, orange and yellow wool require renewable dyes to produce. |
Renewable, but require nonrenewable resources
These resources can be made infinitely, but require one use of a nonrenewable items/resources.
| Resource | Fully renewable products | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Huge Mushroom Huge MushroomsHuge MushroomsHuge Mushrooms |
— | Using Bone Meal on normal mushrooms will grow them into Huge Mushrooms (if there is enough space), which can then be broken to get more of the normal mushroom. With the Silk Touch enchantment though, the Huge Mushroom blocks themselves can be collected.
However, Silk Touch enchantment requires a single craft of non-renewable Enchantment Table. |
| Water Bottle [note 1] |
Potions that don't have Redstone Dust or Glowstone Dust as an ingredient are renewable. See: Brewing.
In order to craft the bottles, you will need to cook nonrenewable sand to get glass. | |
| Wool - Blue, Light Blue, Cyan, Purple, and Magenta |
Bed | Baby sheep will maintain the color of one of their parents (the one with the lowest internal ID). Killing a colored sheep will drop one block of colored wool, however since 1.1.0, use of regrowth is also renewable.
However, one use of the respective dye, containing non-renewable Lapis Lazuli (Dye), is required to color the parent sheep. |
| Ice |
Water source blocks in a tundra or taiga will turn into ice over time. However, Silk Touch enchantment requires a single craft of non-renewable Enchantment Table. |
Renewable, but exhaust nonrenewable resources
These resources can be made infinitely, but to collect require nonrenewable items with limited durability.
| Resource | Fully renewable products | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Obsidian |
— | Entering a Nether Portal for which there is no matching exit will generate 14 free blocks of obsidian (and 4 more "ledge" blocks if the portal is formed in mid-air). Only mining the corners (and "ledges") will keep the portal active. Another way to generate obsidian is by using a bucket to "form" build a portal and mining the counterpart as listed.
Each time entering an End Portal will generate a 5x5 platform of obsidian at the same position. In other words, the obsidian will be "refilled" if mined. However, to harvest obsidian, one would require a pickaxe made from diamond. |
Planned Renewable Resources
These Resources are found ingame, however, aren't completely Renewable until a Future update implements a way to make them renewable. These updates may be discussed in developer tweets/blogs/etc. or in prereleases.
| Resource | Fully Renewable Products | Method |
|---|---|---|
| Cocoa Beans |
Found in Dungeon Chests, however, they aren't replantable and are only a 1-use item. Jeb is trying to make a way where they can be farmable, like Wheat. In 12w18a, Cocoa Beans can rarely drop from decayed or destroyed Jungle leaves, making them a renewable resource and therefore likely that they will also become a renewable resource in the next official release. |
Notes
- ↑ a b c d e Obtaining some resources requires visiting the Nether, which in turn requires making a portal out of non-renewable Obsidian. Obsidian usually additionally requires the use of non-renewable Diamonds to obtain, although this can be avoided by locating Obsidian as an item in Blacksmith chests in villages. A portal, once built, can be re-used an unlimited amount of times.
- ↑ Growing cactus requires one block of nonrenewable sand, but it can be used an unlimited amount of times without using nonrenewable items/resources with finite durability
- ↑ Making cobblestone and stone requires one block of nonrenewable lava, and an unlimited quantity of renewable pickaxes.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Growing plants requires nonrenewable dirt, but it can be used an unlimited amount of times without using nonrenewable items/resources with finite durability
- ↑ a b Zombie Pigmen do rarely spawn in the overworld, but this is such a rare occurrence that gold is almost non-renewable without a nether portal.
- ↑ Growing Nether Wart requires one block of nonrenewable Soul Sand, but it can then be harvested and replanted without consuming the soul sand, similar to growing plants on dirt.
- ↑ Because saplings have a 1/20 chance to fall from a leaf block, there is a chance that a tree will not drop any saplings. However, the number of generated trees is virtually infinite, making the chance to not get any saplings from destroying all trees negligible.