In this study, the use of the organic fraction of municipal solid waste as an abundant and low-cost raw material for producing activated carbon was investigated. For this purpose, ZnCl2 was used as a chemical activation agent and the carbonization process took place at 800 °C in N2 atmosphere. Seven sorbents were prepared by chemical activation (pyrolysis under N2 atmosphere at temperature of 800 oC after impregnation with ZnCl2) with different ratios of ZnCl2. The optimum ratio of organic fraction of municipal solid waste to ZnCl2 was inspected via methylene blue number and iodine number (ASTM Designation: D4607–94). The results showed that the adsorbent with 60% ZnCl2/raw material was the most appropriate one with a satisfactory adsorption capacity, 112.4 mg g-1 for methylene blue and 134.0 mg g-1 for iodine. In addition, the structural analysis of this sorbent was performed using FT-IR, BET surface area, SEM–EDX and thermal analysis. Application of this sorbent to remove Cr (VI) from wastewater was studied to find an adsorption capacity of 66.7 mg g-1. The experimental adsorption equilibrium data were fitted to Langmuir adsorption model with an acceptable adsorption capacity of 66.7 mg g-1.