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In this study, three biosorbents, crab carapace, the macroalgae Fucus vesiculosus and peat were compared with an activated-carbon and an ion-exchange resin for the removal of Cu2+ from synthetic solutions and distillery wastewater. Sorption of Cu2+ was evaluated and best represented by the pseudo-second order rate model for all materials. Langmuir and Freudlich isotherms were used to describe the sorption equilibrium data with maximum uptake values of 79.4, 114.9 and 71.4 mg g-1 obtained for crab carapace, Fucus vesiculosus  and ion-exchange resin respectively. The removal efficiencies of crab carapace and Fucus vesiculosus were >95 % i.e. comparable with those achieved using ion-exchange resin. Metal uptake was found to proceed via a number of mechanisms including absorption on the material surface, ion-exchange and micro-precipitation. It was observed by GG-ATR FTIR that a number of different functional groups present in the materials were also involved in metal uptake and removal. Plant trials set up to provide a preliminary investigation into the application of Cu2+ enriched crab carapace to a Cu2+ deficient soil showed that although the addition of crab carapace enriched with Cu2+ does not immediately help deficiency problems, it is possible that there is scope for such an application as a route for disposal. Crab carapace is an effective and efficient biosorbent for the removal of Cu2+ from aqueous solutions and may be considered a viable alternative to activated-carbon and ion-exchange resin. As a waste material from the fishing industry it also presents the most economically and environmentally sound material for biosorption.