What are non-renewable items?

Renewable items renew themselves, that is, they return fresh ready to be used again. Examples are:

• water (as long as the rain keeps falling)
• trees and crops (as long as we plant and grow more as fast as we use them)
• air
• sunshine
• wind
• the movement of the ocean tides.

Some of these are harnessed to provide renewable energy.

So non-renewable items are really everything else. Things that can only be used once. Examples are:

• Fossil fuels (coal, oil and natural gas)
• Minerals like gold and iron
• Uranium
• Sand
• Salt.