In Factorio, as the factory expands and higher level tech replaces lower level items, you may find outdated tech and machinery cluttering the inventory. Before you know it, items like stone furnaces, burner miner drills, and inserters can quickly take up the valuable inventory slots, leaving very little room for new tech.

At this point, you might consider deleting unwanted items from your inventory, only to discover that there isn't a feature to delete or remove those items. The delete feature in Factorio is restrictive, and it does not apply to all items in the game. Deleting certain items in Factorio requires creative thinking, and now you're in the right place to learn how to manage your inventory and remove unwanted items.

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What Items Can You Delete In Factorio?

Showcasing the destroy blueprint option in Factorio

The only item types that you can delete in Factorio are non-physical items like blueprints and upgrade planners. Blueprints and upgrade planners can be removed by first right-clicking on them to enter the user interface and selecting the "Destroy Blueprint" or "Destroy Upgrade Planner" option. Then, return to your inventory and click the middle mouse button over the empty, colored-coded slot to delete the blueprint or upgrade planner.

However, you cannot follow the same approach to delete physical items like drills, belts, and furnaces. Once these items are built, there is no way to recycle and reclaim invested resources. Nevertheless, physical items have their own HP, and they are prone to biter attacks or damage from weapons. So, if your goal is to permanently remove certain physical items, you'll need to resort to weaponry or explosives.

How To Get Rid Of Physical Items In Factorio

If you've decided to remove unwanted items and clear up some space in your inventory, follow these easy steps.

  1. Identify the item you want to remove.
    • Press E to open the inventory.
    • Browse the inventory and decide which items you no longer need.
  2. Use a wooden chest.
    • Craft a simple wooden chest by investing two pieces of wood.
    • Place the wooden chest on the ground.
    • Click the wooden chest to access its inventory, and then drag and drop all unwanted items into the wooden chest.
  3. Destroy the chest.
    • Once all unwanted items have been added to the wooden chest, use any weapon or explosive to destroy the chest and all items in it.

This is the quickest way to get rid of all unwanted items from your inventory and free up some space for important items.

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Should You Destroy Unwanted Items In Factorio?

Showcasing wooden and steel chests in Factorio

Factorio doesn't impose any resource restrictions on players. As long as you keep exploring the map, you'll continue finding new resource deposits to fuel the growing needs of your factory. Even though primitive technology, like stone furnaces and burner drills, may seem less desirable in the mid to late game, you can always use them in situations when you unexpectedly lose power, or at fuel deposits far from the home base.

With this in mind, it's recommended to store these seemingly unwanted items in chests for emergency situations, rather than destroying them. Storage chests are compact and take up very little space, making them unnoticeable as the factory eventually expands.

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Factorio Tag Page Cover Art
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Simulation
Real-Time Strategy
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Systems
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Top Critic Avg: 82 /100 Critics Rec: 92%
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Released
August 14, 2020
ESRB
T For Teen Due To Blood, Violence
Developer(s)
Wube Software
Publisher(s)
Wube Software
Engine
Proprietary Engine
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer
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WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
Checkbox: control the expandable behavior of the extra info

Platform(s)
PC, Switch
Genre(s)
Simulation, Real-Time Strategy