Chitosan and carboxymethyl chitosan was prepared on laboratory scale and used as adsorbent for copper removal from cottage industry waste effluent. The chitosan was extracted by chemical method from Indian prawn (Fennerpenaeus Indicus) and CM-chitosan was extracted by alkylation method. The prepared polymeric adsorbent was characterized by fourier transforms spectroscopy, electro X-ray and thermogravimetric analysis. Further their effectiveness for copper removal was analyzed by column elution method. In this regard the adsorbents packed in two separate glass columns and sample elution was collected and analyzed. The Ethylene diaminetetracetic acid (EDTA) was used as desorption agent and it removed copper upto 99.6 in both columns. The results showed that chitosan filled column removed 47.1�52.1 copper and CM-chitosan filled column removed 58.8�69.2 copper. It was concluded that CM-chitosan filled column is more effective for copper removal. © 2016 Taylor & Francis Group, London.