8 - Reuse paraffin

Supplies:

• Candle remains
• In a bain-marie
• Old pots
• cooking fire
• Mold cleaner
• Colander or fine sieve
• Cotton cloth + paper handkerchief
• Thermometer
• Colorants
• Scents
• Libra

Recycling old candles

After enjoying the coziness of one or more candles, there is always a stump or remainder of the candle left. You probably know that candle remains can be reused permanently and that reduces the waste mountain. How to give old candles a new life, you can learn here.

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How do you remove candle residue from glass or earthenware pots?

• Place your old candles in the freezer for a few hours. The remains will shrink and be easier to remove.
• Fill your old candle jar with hot water, the candle remains will float to the top after a while.
• Place your jar in an old pot with hot water. If necessary, weigh down your jar with a weight to prevent it from falling over. If your jar does fall over during the melting process, the paraffin will not mix with water because paraffin is lighter than water (± 15ù)
• Place your glass or earthenware pots in a preferably old oven. Heat the oven to ± 80°C and let the oven do the work to easily remove the wax residue from the old mold. You can also use our mold cleaner.

Collect all your candle leftovers and sort by quality & color.

• Mixing all the colors will give a dark color.
• Remove bad smelling candle residue.
• Remove as much of anything that is not paraffin as possible.

Melting candle residues

• Make a Bain-Marie from two old cooking pots or use our mini Bain-Marie.
• With your own Bain-marie, fill the larger pot with water and then place the smaller pot in the water.
• Please note that the large pot of water does not overflow after filling the small pot with candle residue.
• Keep a reserve of a few inches below the rim of the large pot.
• Melt by sorted color.
• Melt the candle residue at a temperature between 70° and 90*C

Purifying the candle residue

• Provide a plastic or metal mold to hold the paraffin during purification.
• Take the colander and place an old clean cotton cloth (rag). Tighten the rag with a few clothes pins.
• Pour the warm candle residue through the colander.
• The second step is to purify as much dye from the paraffin as possible.
• Take the colander and place a paper towel. One layer of the paper towel is enough, otherwise the paraffin will not go through the paper. Change the paper sheet regularly.
• Repeat the second step for dark colored paraffin.

Prepare paraffin for use.

If the newly obtained paraffin is to be used for indoor candles, it is best to use the following procedure.

• Melt the reused paraffin, as explained above.
• Do not heat higher than necessary. 65°C should be the maximum.
• Add an equal amount of new paraffin to the reused paraffin.
• Add 10% stearin of the weight of the new paraffin. EG: 100grams of recycled paraffin makes 100grams of new paraffin and 10grams of stearin.
• Add the desired food coloring.
• It is best to add fragrances at the end of preparation, just before pouring into glasses or jars.

Important:

• Cover the work surface and wear an apron!
• Check the temperature of the laundry regularly with a thermometer.
• Fragrances cannot be removed. Mixing candle residues with different fragrances can give off an unpleasant odor. Therefore, remove scented candle residues already during 'sorting'.

Warning:

• Only light candles in the presence of adults.
• Never heat the wax directly in a pan or over an open fire.
• When melting, use an electric fire. Do not use a microwave.
• Wax vapour is flammable at 180°C.
• Place candles on a fireproof surface. (see our safety instructions )