Significant amount of silica waste is generated in the preparation of porous carbon materials using template synthesis. Industrial production of such porous carbon not only creates waste chemicals, but also poses significant environmental concerns and high waste treatment cost. Recycling is proposed as the best solution for tackling such chemical wastes. In this study, etched silica waste released from template synthesis of mesoporous carbon is recycled to produce precious functional microporous zeolite materials. The solid silica template is etched out with NaOH solution to produce silica-free mesoporous carbon. The collected silica waste is recycled to generate zeolites such as LTA and MFI type silica materials. The formation of zeolites is confirmed by FT-IR, XRD, Si-29 NMR, Al-27 NMR, and SEM. This straight forward green chemistry route not only recycles the waste chemicals, but also decreases environmental pollution for better improvement of our living. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.