42

I have been digging a mine and now have a slew of dirt and cobblestone blocks. How do I destroy them permanently and keep them from filling up my inventory?

Improve this question
4
  • 23
    Why don't you build something with them. You can smelt the cobblestone back into rock and do some terraforming :)
    – ChrisF
    Apr 4, 2011 at 20:43
  • 33
    Destroy blocks? Why not save them in a chest for that epic super-structure you'll eventually want to build?
    – Arkive
    Apr 4, 2011 at 20:44
  • @ChrisF: Smelting cobblestone is a waste of coal and time when you can just use a feather touch pick to collect it.
    – Chris Redford
    Sep 29, 2013 at 17:02
  • 1
    @ChrisRedford - that comment was written 2 1/2 years ago. I'm not sure that feather touch existed back then.
    – ChrisF
    Sep 29, 2013 at 17:04

11 Answers 11

Reset to default
58

You have a few options:

  • Throw them into a pool of lava
  • Throw them into a cactus block
  • Throw them into fire
  • Explode them (items will be destroyed if they are in the radius of a TNT or creeper explosion)
  • Just throw them on the ground and forget about them and they'll despawn after 5 minutes. This is generally longer than desirable, however, which is where the other options come in handy.
Improve this answer
5
  • 13
    Expanding on the third option, you can bury them. This way, you don't accidently pick them up again.
    – Arkive
    Apr 4, 2011 at 20:43
  • 17
    If you do decide to bury them like @Arkive suggests, make sure you leave an empty block for them to sit in. If you completely fill the space where the items are, they will be shunted to a nearby open space, which is often close enough to where you're standing that you'll just pick them all back up again.
    – Invader Skoodge
    Apr 4, 2011 at 20:54
  • 9
    Expanding on point 3, you can build a toilet with a water flow that flushes the block away and will eventually despawn. Much easier than doing the bury thing.
    – Jared
    Apr 5, 2011 at 1:24
  • Alternative to throwing into fire: Light a fire on the block they're sitting on.
    – doppelgreener
    Jul 25, 2011 at 1:58
  • 4
    Oh, so many ways to destroy or burn.
    – MonochromaticPalette
    Jan 4, 2012 at 7:12
32

You should always keep cobblestone...It's used for a ton of stuff in various forms. You can smelt it into rock, make it into stairs, roads, and, of course, huge fricking floating palaces with skulls that drip lava, etc.

Gravel is useful for mining flint, so keep it, then throw it in a hole and mine it again, and again, and again, until you've converted all of it to flint.

Dirt is pretty annoying, granted. I tend to keep it because I'll occasionally want to level a lot of terrain in preparation for building something. It's also nice to use in building elevated roads/bridges, because you don't have to use the more valuable cobblestone. I like to use dirt for "lighthouses" (really tall towers with torches on top so you can see where things are) and other disposable structures.

Chests are super cheap to make, so there is no reason not to throw the mined dirt/stone/cobblestone in chests whenever you go back to base to make more picks/shovels.

Improve this answer
6
  • 7
    +1 It takes just as many clicks to drop from your inventory into lava as from your inventory into a chest, so why not just save it?
    – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
    Apr 4, 2011 at 23:14
  • Agreed. There are very few structures built with cobblestone that are self sufficient (i.e. you mine enough while building the structure), so you're better off saving it. Sky train bridges don't mine their own cobblestone after all.
    – MBraedley
    Apr 5, 2011 at 1:04
  • 5
    I disagree in one point: for me, dirt is slightly more valuable than cobblestone. Why? Because cobblestone is a renewable resource, and dirt is not. You can easily build an infinite cobblestone generator using lava and water. However, you can't generate dirt.
    – Denilson Sá Maia
    Jul 25, 2011 at 0:52
  • 1
    @Denilson Sa: Plus, dirt (alongside wood planks) is one of the best materials with which to build support structures to help you move around whilst building something. It's readily available and you can destroy them very quickly with no tools. Wood planks, on the other hand, can't be destroyed quickly individually, but you can burn them all down in the end.
    – doppelgreener
    Jul 25, 2011 at 2:06
  • 3
    ...and with the latest version, it takes even less clicks to save it than destroy it - just hold shift and click on it while having a chest open, and it automatically gets moved to the chest.
    – BlueRaja - Danny Pflughoeft
    Jan 6, 2012 at 23:17
10

There are a few basic ways to ditch this stuff:

  • Throw them into lava (my favorite)
  • Set them on fire by other means
  • Just drop them somewhere and leave them, they'll despawn after 5 minutes
  • Throw them on some cacti! (Thanks @Raven Dreamer)

Did I miss any?

Improve this answer
1
  • 6
    cactus. you missed cacti.
    – Raven Dreamer
    Apr 4, 2011 at 21:01
8

Alternatively, you can try the TooManyItems mod, which lets you 'delete' materials from your inventory screen.

Look Here for more information about uses, and setup, and a screenshot that should give you a better understanding of it.

Improve this answer
1
  • +1 Thankyou. I've seen that around and had no idea what it was.
    – doppelgreener
    Jul 25, 2011 at 2:07
4

Most simple and less time consuming.....throw it off a cliff or into a sea nearby. The items will disappear when 5 minutes have passed.

Improve this answer
4

Or alternatively, you can install the Equivalent Exchange mod and shove it all in an energy condenser. Much less wasteful: you get diamonds from it.

Improve this answer
3

If you want to lose many items quite quickly you need a bunch of toolboxes and a bucket filled with lava:

  1. install toolbox on ground
  2. "use" toolbox from as far away as possible
  3. fill all 9 nine crafting slots with rubbish you want to get rid of
  4. dump the lava and see items disappear
  5. collect lava
  6. IF(too much rubbish items) THEN GOTO 1.

(But I prefer storing them...)

Improve this answer
4
  • 3
    I find it easier to stand in front of lava, open your inventory, and then keep picking up stacks of 64 items and clicking outside your inventory window to 'throw' them. No need for an intermediary crafting table.
    – Phrogz
    Apr 5, 2011 at 19:56
  • 5
    If you really want to destroy lots of items really quick, empty your inventory of everything you want to save, and jump into a lava lake. Hopefully you remembered to sleep in a bed recently!
    – thedaian
    Jun 28, 2011 at 20:34
  • @thedaian yep, that should work too but usually I don't take suicide into consideration
    – mbx
    Jun 28, 2011 at 22:25
  • But...what about XP?
    – Joe the Person
    Feb 22, 2012 at 0:09
2

Shortcut to drop 4 items at a time:

  • open your inventory screen
  • put an item you want to drop in each of your 4 'craft slots'
  • when you close your inventory screen, you'll drop all 4 items
Improve this answer
3
  • I actually liked it pre-beta when your crafting screen was just 4 extra inventory spots.
    – Raven Dreamer
    Apr 12, 2011 at 0:41
  • 2
    It takes just as many clicks to drag the mouse outside the inventory frame to drop them, and that way it doesn't matter where you move the cursor to (as long as it's away).
    – Brant
    Apr 12, 2011 at 1:26
  • 2
    -1 This isn't a shortcut. It just makes you drop all four at once (you still do the same amount of mouseclicks and movements). Then once you take into consideration this method requires you to a) position the garbage items carefully b) keep opening/closing the inventory, it becomes the long way.
    – doppelgreener
    Jul 25, 2011 at 2:01
1

If you want to do this with a command you could do /gamerule doTileDrops false or /gamerule doTileDrops true to enable and disable the drops.

Improve this answer
-1

It's real easy: Items get destroyed if they take damage.

You can use creepers, TNT, cacti, lava, fire, and maybe even more!

Improve this answer
3
  • -1, this doesn't work. Creepers destroy enviroment blocks (so does TNT). And, it is unclear.
    – Joe the Person
    Sep 10, 2011 at 4:37
  • 2
    That's... not how it works.
    – MonochromaticPalette
    Jan 4, 2012 at 7:14
  • @MonochromaticPalette if you throw inventory items at any of these things, it will destroy them. Its pretty common to surround a single cactus with a small shaft of blocks to make a 'trash can'. Most environment blocks that cause damage can also be used to destroy inventory items
    – That Realtor Programmer Guy
    Jun 15, 2014 at 13:49
-1

1st, Be sure you're in creative mode, or this won't work. Make sure Touchscreen Mode is set to the OFF position. Take your Dirt and Cobblestone. Get to another tab other than the Survival Inventory tab. Shift Right-Click your Dirt and Cobblestone. Go to the Survival Inventory. You should have nothing in there except the minerals you hopefully mined. This has worked for me, & I hope it works for you.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .