Rapid development of civilization together with the evolution of industry has caused deep changes in the quality of the environment in which the human beings live. The enhancing demands for a healthy environment, particularly for the removal of pollutants from industrial and municipal wastewater, are a major reason to search for new materials. Zeolites are potential materials and can conveniently be used as adsorbents for the removal of environmental pollutants. The present research offers a green approach to investigate the removal efficiency of polyaromatic hydrocarbons and azo dyes from wastewater using zeolite derived from incinerator waste (ash) as an effective, economical, and environmentlly friendly suitable material as an adsorbent. The significance rests on the use of hazardous waste into a useful resource (adsorbent). Batch adsorption studies are conducted and results are analyzed by UV–vis spectrophotometer. The results depicted the performance of zeolite incinerator ash (1 mg/kg) in removing 98, 97, and 96% of anthracene, phenanthrene, and pyrene, respectively, and up to 90% removal of the dyes upon adsorbate–adsorbent contact for 10 min. Thus, the zeolite made from natural waste materials possess unique porous properties and offer promise for the removal of organic pollutants. The recovery ability can also be tested and evaluated to determine the reusability of the adsorbent. This is an additional benefit which reduces the need for extracting materials from the environment to be used in the industrial processes.

The wastewater containing heavy metals, produced at various stages of operation in textile, printing, plastic, and paper-making industries, pose major hazards to the environment and the public health. Therefore, it is necessary that the pollutants should be treated before discharge by using highly efficient adsorbents. Zeolite is a potential material and can conveniently be processed as adsorbents for the removal of environmental pollutants. A wide range of commercial zeolite has been marketed but due to high cost it is of limited use. The present research offers a green approach for the application of zeolite synthesized by using marble powder waste as a precursor. The significance rests on the conversion of waste into a useful adsorbent marble zeolite (MZ). Zeolite is an environmental friendly, novel, and cost-effective adsorbent. In the current study, remediation of heavy metals in industrial wastewater is done using zeolite. The marble waste contains metals like Zn, Ni, Pb, Cr, Cd, and Cu in it and this waste itself also used as an adsorbent for removal of metals and its efficiency is ≥85%. The batch method has been employed for metal removal using different standard solutions at concentrations of 50–200 mg/L of individual metals (Zn, Ni, Pb, Cr, Cd, and Cu). The optimum removal efficiency is determined at 50 mg/L and the results depicted the performance of MZ (1 mg/kg) in removing inorganic pollutants upon adsorbate–adsorbent contact for 30 min, at lower dose of MZ. It was also found that the higher the induced concentration, the lesser the removal efficiency. It may be due to the limiting factor of adsorbent dose. The adsorbent was also applied on industrial effluents taken from textile and plastic factories at optimum studied conditions. The removal mechanism of metal ions followed adsorption and ion exchange processes. These results show that the MZ holds a great potential to remove heavy metals from industrial wastewater. The study recommends the reutilization of MZ as a potential adsorbent, which can greatly enhance the sustainability of useful resources.