A simple method for removing mercury from aqueous process streams has been developed. The system consists of a column packed with finely ground vulcanized rubber preceded by a liquid cyclone separator. In one test, a pilot- scale packed bed containing finely ground tire rubber produced an effluent having < 10 ppb mercury for 170 bed volumes throughput, and < 100 ppb for over 600 bed volumes. Feed solution contained 1800 to 11,000 ppb mercury in a dissolved or colloidal state. In batch laboratory tests, mercury was reduced from 750 ppb to less than 5 ppb in five minutes at 70 deg C. The ability of rubber to capture mercury in almost any physical or chemical form over a wide range of pH and concentration provides an economical method for cleaning up waste effluent from many industrial sources. This process uses one waste product to control another and at a cost below that of previously described processes. The use of discarded tire rubber to absorb mercury may have wide application. (auth)