The waste ink absorber is

These are messy and extremely impossible to clean, if you spill ink while doing so you can damage the printer and have to throw it away anyway. So I would replace it, but if you really want to try and clean it out I can walk you through the steps. Keep in mind though that it was not designed to be cleaned. I don;t know what your time is worth per/hour, but you will most assuredly spend more time then the cost of a new printer.