The large-scale utilization of nitrophenols and the rapid replacement of rubber products have led to an explosive increase in emissions and waste. Herein, we report a low-cost, sustainable, recyclable nano ZnO-templating synthesis strategy to fabricate porous carbon materials derived from waste rubber. Zinc acetate, employed as the template precursor, can be readily removed and recycled through acetic acid leaching, thereby mitigating production expenses and circumventing the generation of saline wastewater throughout the synthetic procedure. The porous carbons fabricated possess tunable textural characteristics, as well as in-situ doping of oxygen-containing species. The sample of WRPC-1.25 owning high specific surface area of 1088.68 m2/g and volume of 2.58 cm3/g exhibits remarkable adsorption capacity of 393.42 mg/g for ONP in batch and of 300.2 mg/g in fixed bed continuous flow adsorption test. Additionally, the WRPC-1.25 demonstrates excellent practical application potential for ONP removal both in the continuous dynamic adsorption-regeneration cycles and environmental test. Based on material characterization, adsorption evaluation tests and theoretical calculations, the synergistic adsorption mechanism of ONP on carbon surfaces, governed by pore filling, dispersion effects, and strong electrostatic attraction originating from oxygen functional groups, was elucidated.