BACKGROUND Over recent years, several studies exploring new technologies capable of degrading persistent organochlorine compounds have been published. Special attention has been dedicated to atrazine (ATZ), due to its ecotoxicological relevance together with its frequent detection in the environment. Degradation of organochlorines via zero-valent metals has gained great importance given its practicality and versatility, zero-valent-iron (ZVI) being the most applied metal for this purpose. Alternatively, zero-valent-copper (ZVCu) was proved to exhibit higher reactivity against chlorinated aromatics, therefore deserving further investigation. RESULTS The optimum degradation conditions for ATZ removal with ZVCu were explored through a Doehlert experimental design. The same conditions were tested for the traditional ZVI, which confirmed that ZVCu was more reactive. The analysis of the degradation products suggests that both reductive and oxidative pathways coexist in the studied process. CONCLUSIONS ZVCu was effective in ATZ degradation, both by reductive and oxidation pathways, within a wide range of pH values, although faster in acidic media. The resulting solution from the experiment that promoted the fastest degradation is less toxic than ATZ against microalgae Chlorella vulgaris, which is a positive output regarding the application of this process as a pre-treatment step of ATZ-contaminated water matrices. (c) 2018 Society of Chemical Industry