Advanced oxidation processes, particularly heterogeneous photocatalysis, have gained attentionas promising technologies for the degradation of persistent organic micropollutants that areresistant to conventional water treatment methods. The aim of this study was to evaluate theefficiency of eco-inspired ZnO photocatalysts, prepared from green tea (GTE) – and banana peelextracts (BPE), in both powder and coating forms, for the removal of emerging pollutants (pesticidetembotrione – TEM and synthetic hormone 17α-ethinylestradiol – EE2) from water, under variousexperimental conditions (catalyst loading, initial pH, water matrix) using simulated solar irradiation.High-performance liquid chromatography with diode array and fluorescence detectors wasemployed to monitor the degradation kinetics of the target compounds. Additionally, the newlyprepared materials were characterized using advanced techniques (e.g. XRD, SEM). The resultsdemonstrated significant photocatalytic activity of the new ZnO materials, with degradationefficiencies reaching 96% for TEM (ZnO GTE) and 83% for EE2 (ZnO BPE), after 60 min ofirradiation.