The feasibility of producing an adsorbent from an alkaline aqueous tarry industrial waste has been investigated in this study. The inherent disadvantages of producing a solid carbonaceous material from a waste with its organic content in a dissolved state were overcome by neutralising the waste liquor to pH < 2 in the presence of fuller＇s earth, filtering and producing a solid cake more suitable for thermal treatment. Optimisation of this procedure, followed by ZnCl2 activation, produced clay-carbon adsorbents with surface areas of up to 225 m(2) g(-1) capable of adsorbing 28% of phenol and 35% of 4-nitrophenol from 10 mM aqueous solution. The potential of this procedure in a beneficial waste reduction and re-use context are highlighted.