Display omitted •A new approach allows to evaluate the suitability of recycled carbon fibers as a reinforcing filler of plastics for additive technologies.•Recycled carbon fibers with clean surface from CFRP waste.•Suitability evaluation of reclaimed short carbon fibers for additive technologies. This article presents a new approach to suitability assessment of short reclaimed carbon fiber (rCF) for additive technologies via commonly used analytical methods. Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) based plastics reinforced with virgin or recycled CF samples were received, their mechanical properties and morphology of tensile fractured surface were determined by SEM (Scanning Electron Microscopy) and tensile strength test. As long as operating characteristics of CFRP are affected by single fiber strength as well as adhesion (interfacial interaction) between matrix and CF, this research also includes investigation of fiber surface with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), Raman spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD). Correlation between suggested complex parameters of investigated CF and strength of plastics (CFRP) samples was shown. It was also established that contribution of each investigated parameter is additive.