© 2017 The Royal Society of Chemistry. The ever-increasing demands of the modern world continue to place substantial strain on the environment. To help alleviate the damage done to the natural world, the encapsulation of small molecules or ions (guests) into porous inorganic structural frameworks (hosts) provides a potential remedy for some of the environmental concerns facing us today. These concerns include the removal of harmful pollutants from water or air, the safe entrapment of nuclear waste materials, or the purification and storage of small molecules that act as alternative fuel sources. We review the trends in using inorganic materials as host media for the removal or storage of various wastes and alternative fuels. We cover the treatment of water contaminated with dyes or heavy metals, air pollution alleviation via CO2, SOx, NOx, and volatile organic compound containment, nuclear waste immobilization, and storage for H2 and methane as alternative fuels.