A new catalytic dehydrohalogenation method for chlorinated phenols is described, which can be used to break down chlorinated pollutants in wastewater. It uses a system of Pd-C as catalyst with sodium formate as reducing agent. This economic method is easy to perform with a complete degradation of the pollutant within 12 to 30 h at room temperature. The ecoefficieny of the procedure is compared with eleven alternative methods showing the special advantages of the method.