A renewable resource is a resource that can be recreated indefinitely in survival without exploiting glitches (as opposed to a non-renewable resource). While running out of resources isn't likely to be a factor due to theoretically infinite (and still quite vast in practice) 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, or in PvP maps, where one would like to obtain resources without having to conquer more land.
The listed fully renewable products are items which can be crafted, smelted, or brewed using only renewable resources. For example, Cookies are renewable as they only require Wheat and Cocoa Beans that can be regrown infinitely, while TNT isn't because it requires Sand, which is not renewable.
Anything that is dropped by a monster or animal (besides the Dragon Egg dropped by the Ender Dragon and the Nether Star dropped by the Wither) is renewable because all mobs (besides the Ender Dragon (one per world) and Wither (requires Soul Sand)) can respawn and be killed again for more loot.
Renewable Resources
| Resource | Renewable products | Renewable method |
|---|---|---|
| Arrows |
— | Arrows are dropped by Skeletons and can be traded by Villager farmers. |
| Blaze Rods |
Blaze rods are dropped by Blazes. | |
| Bones |
Bones are dropped by Skeletons. | |
| Cactus |
Cactus can be found in desert biomes and can be grown on sand. While sand is non-renewable, it is not consumed by the growth of cactus. | |
| Carrots |
Carrots can be grown on tilled soil. They can be found on some village fields or as a rare drop of zombies. | |
| Coal/Charcoal |
Coal is dropped by killed Wither Skeletons. Charcoal is produced by smelting logs. Coal and Charcoal do not stack together, but serve the same purpose. As of snapshot 13w19a they are no longer visually identical, and Charcoal cannot be used to craft Blocks of Coal. | |
| Cobblestone and Stone |
Stone BrickStone Bricks SlabButton | Created by letting non-renewable lava flow over or against water. One must not let water flow into the lava source, otherwise the lava will irreversibly convert into obsidian. |
| Cocoa Beans |
Cocoa pods (found on jungle trees) drop up to 3 beans, which can be replanted on jungle logs to produce more cocoa. | |
| Eggs |
Chickens will lay eggs roughly every 5 – 10 minutes. | |
| Ender Pearls Enderpearl |
Dropped by killed Endermen. | |
| Experience Orb File:XP orb animation.gif |
See enchanting | Dropped by any mob killed by the player except for Villagers, Golems, Bats, or baby animals. Also may be obtained through fishing, smelting, and breeding. |
| Feathers |
Dropped by killed chickens. | |
| Flowers FlowersFlowers |
Can spawn when bone meal is used to generate patches of tall grass. This requires non-renewable Grass Blocks, (although it is very plentiful in a normal Overworld outside of a Mushroom Island, and they are not consumed to generate tall grass) and is the only way to obtain a renewable supply of Dandelions. Roses are also sometimes dropped by killed Iron Golems. | |
| Ghast Tears |
Dropped by killed Ghasts. | |
| Glass Bottle |
Dropped by killed Witches. | |
| Glowstone Dust |
Glowstone Block | Dropped by killed Witches or obtained by trading with villager priests. Also dropped by Blazes in the Xbox version. |
| Gunpowder |
Dropped by killed creepers, Ghasts, and Witches. | |
| Huge Mushroom Huge MushroomsHuge MushroomsHuge 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. With the Silk Touch enchantment though (obtainable by trading with villager priests), the huge mushroom blocks themselves can be collected. |
| Ice |
Water source blocks in an Ice Plains or Taiga biomes will turn into ice over time. Attempting to collect ice will break it into water if there is a block under it, outright destroying the broken block otherwise. With the Silk Touch enchantment though (obtainable by trading with Villager priests), the ice blocks can be successfully collected. | |
| Ink Sacs |
Dropped by killed Squid. | |
| Leather |
Dropped by killed Cows, Mooshrooms and Horses. | |
| Magma Cream |
Dropped by killed Magma Cubes. Also crafted from Slimeballs and blaze powder | |
| Melon Seeds |
Melon (Block) | Melon Seeds are found in Abandoned Mine Shafts. And be crafted from melon slices, which can be traded by villager farmers. Seeds 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 |
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. 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. |
| Nether Wart Nether Wart Seeds |
Harvested from fully grown Nether wart. Must be planted on non-renewable Soul Sand, but it doesn't consume the block. | |
| Obsidian |
Diamond pickaxes, required to mine obsidian, can be obtained by trading with villager blacksmiths. | |
| Potatoes |
Potatoes are a rare drop of zombies and can be harvested on some village fields, but once obtained, the player can grow them on tilled soil. Poisonous Potatoes are occasionally dropped by mature potato plants. | |
| Pumpkin Seeds Pumpkin seeds |
Jack 'o' Lantern | Pumpkin seeds are found in abandoned mine shafts, while pumpkins themselves are found "wild" in certain biomes. You can also get seeds from putting a pumpkin in a crafting slot or by breaking pumpkin stems. The seeds, of course, can be planted in farmland to generate more pumpkins. |
| Raw Beef |
Raw Beef is dropped by Cows and Mooshrooms. Steaks can also be traded by Villager butchers. | |
| Raw Chicken |
Dropped by killed chickens. Cooked chickens can also be traded by villager farmers. | |
| Raw Fish |
Obtained by fishing using a fishing rod. | |
| Raw Porkchop |
Dropped by killed Pigs. Cooked porkchops can also be traded by Villager butchers. | |
| Redstone |
Obtained by killing a Witch or by trading with villager priests. | |
| Rotten Flesh |
— | Dropped by killed Zombies and Zombie Pigmen. |
| Saplings and Trees |
Wooden Pressure PlateJack 'o' LanternTrapdoorFenceFence GateWooden DoorSignBedWooden ButtonGold SwordGold PickaxeGold ShovelGold AxeGold Hoe | Trees can be grown from saplings placed on lit dirt; When broken a leaf block has a 5% chance of dropping a sapling. See tree farming. Charcoal can be produced by smelting any kind of log. Leaves can be obtained by harvesting with shears. Sticks are also dropped by killed Witches. |
| Seeds |
Seeds can be planted on farmland. Harvesting the resulting crops may produce more Seeds. Seeds can also be harvested from tall grass. | |
| Slimeballs |
Dropped by killed Slimes. | |
| Snowballs |
Snow (cover) | In cold biomes, snow is replaced whenever it snowfalls. It is also produced by Snow Golems wherever they walk over. |
| Spider Eye |
Dropped by killed Spiders, Cave Spiders, and Witches. | |
| String |
Bed | Dropped by killed Spiders or Cave Spiders. |
| Sugar Cane |
Will grow to 3 blocks high and can be trimmed or replanted. Must first be found in the world, and can only be planted on dirt/sand bordering water. Can be sometimes found 4 blocks high in the world. Sugar is also dropped by killed Witches. | |
| Tall Grass |
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 |
— | Found on swamp trees, jungle trees, and on terrain and caves in jungles. When attached (hanging), they grow naturally if there is open space below. To harvest vines, one must also use shears made from iron. They also generate as part of player-made jungle trees. |
| Water Bucket |
Two water spring blocks in the appropriate pattern produce a third; see water for details. If placed in a snowy biome, it will create ice. | |
| Wool |
Bed | Obtained by killing or shearing sheep, crafting 4 strings dropped by Spiders or Cave 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. |
Rare drops
These items are only occasionally dropped by monsters, so getting them quickly or in quantity is normally done by mining, then smelting/crafting non-renewable resources (mob farms being an option).
| Resource | Products produced | Method to Obtain |
|---|---|---|
| Bows |
Bows are rarely dropped by skeletons, and can be enchanted with Power I and with an even more rare chance a Power II Bow followed by secondary enchantments. Usually, one would rather craft a bow with renewable sticks and strings. | |
| Chainmail Armor Chain Armor HelmetChain Armor ChestplateChain Armor LeggingsChain Armor Boots |
— | Can very rarely be found equipped to Zombies, Zombie Pigmen, and Skeletons. Can also be found being sold by Villagers. |
| Diamond Armor |
— | Can very, very rarely be found equipped to Zombies, Zombie Pigmen, and Skeletons. More commonly, they can be obtained by trading with villager blacksmiths. |
| Gold Nuggets and Gold Ingots |
Gold SwordGold PickaxeGold ShovelGold AxeGold HoeGold HelmetGold ChestplateGold LeggingsGold BootsWeighted Pressure Plate (Light) | Nuggets are dropped by killed zombie pigmen, ingots as a rare drop. |
| Gold Swords and Gold Armor Gold SwordGold HelmetGold ChestplateGold LeggingsGold Boots |
— | Sword is a rare drop of killed zombie pigmen. These swords can be enchanted with any level I and some level II or III sword enchantments. Armor can very rarely be found equipped to Zombies, Zombie Pigmen, and Skeletons. |
| Iron Ingots |
Weighted Pressure Plate (Heavy) | Dropped by killed iron golems and rarely dropped by killed zombies. |
| Iron Swords, Iron Shovels, and Iron Armor |
— | Armor can very rarely be found equipped to Zombies, Zombie Pigmen, and Skeletons.Can be worn/held by zombies, zombie pigmen, and skeletons. Swords and shovels are equipped only to Zombies. |
| Leather Armor |
— | Can very rarely be found equipped to Zombies, Zombie Pigmen, and Skeletons.Can be worn/held by zombies, zombie pigmen, and skeletons. Also Farmed through Cows . |
| Music Discs Music DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic DiscsMusic Discs |
— | Dropped only when a skeleton kills a creeper. It doesn't matter who dealt most of the damage, as long as the final blow is dealt by the arrow of the skeleton. |
| Wither Skeleton Skulls |
Wither Skeleton Skulls are a rare drop of Wither Skeletons. The other heads are currently creative only. |
Tradable
Resources that in normal circumstances would be non-renewable, except that they can be obtained through trading with villagers.
| Resource | Renewable products | Renewable method |
|---|---|---|
| Emerald |
Obtained by trading renewable items to villagers, such as raw chicken. These can be used to buy other things from villagers, including resources that are otherwise non-renewable, like glass. Villagers never run out of stock (but their selling offers may vary), and they can be "bred", making villagers themselves renewable. | |
| Bottle o' Enchanting |
File:XP orb animation.gif | Obtained by trading with villager priests. |
| Chainmail Armor Chain Armor HelmetChain Armor ChestplateChain Armor LeggingsChain Armor Boots |
— | Obtained by trading with villager blacksmiths. |
| Diamond Armor |
— | Obtained by trading with villager blacksmiths. |
| Diamond Tools |
— | Obtained by trading with villager blacksmiths. |
| Enchanted Books |
Enchanted items | Sold by villager librarians. |
| Enchanted diamond or iron swords, pickaxes, axes, and chestplates Up to level 19 |
— | Obtained by trading with villager priests. |
| Flint and Steel |
— | Obtained by trading with villager farmers. |
| Glass |
Obtained by trading with villager librarians. Glass bottles can be utilized to make potions. With redstone and glowstone bought from priests, extended potions and level II potions can also be brewed renewably. Glass bottles are also dropped by killed Witches. | |
| Glowstone |
Obtained by trading with villager priests. Dust is also dropped by killed Witches. | |
| Iron Armor |
— | Obtained by trading with villager blacksmiths. Iron armor can also be dropped by a zombie if it is wearing iron armor. |
| Iron Tools |
— | Obtained by trading with villager blacksmiths. Swords and shovels also rare drop of zombies. |
| Saddles |
— | Obtained by trading with villager butchers. |
| Redstone |
Obtained by trading with villager priests or by killing a Witch. |
Renewable, but require non-renewable resources
These resources can be made infinitely, but require one use of a non-renewable items/resources.
| Resource | Renewable products | Renewable method |
|---|---|---|
| Enchanted tools, weapons, armor, and books |
— | Experience orbs can be spent to enchant, but this requires the one-time use of non-renewable diamond to craft an enchantment table. Once crafted, an enchantment table may be used an unlimited amount of times. |
| Wool - Blue, Light Blue, Cyan, Purple, and Magenta |
Bed | Sheep will regrow their wool by eating Grass from Dirt blocks, and can thus be shorn multiple times. Indeed, by breeding two sheep of a color one can create an infinite number of re-shearable sheep. However, a single unit of the respective dye, containing non-renewable Lapis Lazuli, is required to color the initial sheep. |
Planned Renewable Resources
These items are renewable, however, they are only in snapshots and prereleases. An official update has yet to display them.
| Resource | Products produced | Method to Obtain |
|---|---|---|
| Fishing products | Obtained via fishing | |
| Potions of Water Breathing | Obtained by brewing Pufferfish into an Awkward Potion | |
| Tall Flowers | Obtained by using bonemeal on like flowers | |
| Short Flowers | Obtained by using bonemeal on grass blocks in the appropriate biomes (such as Flower Forests or Swamps) | |
| Dyes | Obtained by crafting the new flowers | |
| Stained Glass | Obtained by crafting Glass with the appropriate dye | |
| Ferns |
- | Obtained by using bonemeal on ferns and then breaking with shears |