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Abstract: The tanning industry generates large amount of solid and liquid residues from the tannery process, which uses chromium (III) to obtain the wet blue leather. The solid residues (sawdust and scraps) contain around 3% in mass of chromium (III). The wet blue leather waste after controlled pyrolysis under CO2 flow was transformed into chromium-containing activated carbons (AC). The AC showed high microporous surface area (up to 889m2 g− 1). The fibrous structure of the starting material is kept after pyrolysis under CO2 activation. Thermal analysis showed that the AC is stable up to 300°C, and the ash content of 6.9%. The chromium species were found to be Cr3+ and Cr6+ by XPS analysis. The chromium oxide was nanodispersed on the activated carbon, and the particle size increases with higher activation time. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]