This paper presents experimental study on six carbonaceous industrial waste samples that were obtained from a local industry in Saskatchewan, Canada. Hereafter, the samples are coded as ES1, ES2, ES3, PU, RPS and SS1 and were characterized using IR and 13C solid state NMR spectroscopy, nitrogen porosimetry, TGA, metal leaching analysis using ICP and point-of-zero-charge. Adsorption studies were conducted using two types of adsorptive dye probes (p-nitrophenol, PNP; and methylene blue; MB) at pH 4.60 and pH 7.00.