The objective of this investigation was to study the use of a coupled treatment (electrocoagulation(EC) and sorption/filtration treatment) with different sequencing to reduce the organic pollutantsmeasured as chemical oxygen demand (COD) of five highly polluted wastewater streamsgenerated after washing surfaces and machinery in the wooden floor industry and to evaluate,how different sequencing of these treatment units affects the overall system efficiency. On thebasis of preliminary studies, an EC reactor (1.0 L) was constructed with monopolar electrodes inparallel connection in an array of four Al electrodes with surface area of 93.2 cm2and an appliedcurrent density of 161 A m–2. This reactor was coupled to a sorption/filtration unit with coalactivated carbon. The EC reactor was tested in two different sequences (before and after the sorption/filtration unit). The overall COD reduction varied from 2% ± 0.5% to 77% ± 2.9%, dependingon the sequence and the treated wastewater stream. The best result from efficiency andoperational viewpoints was obtained with the EC reactor placed after the sorption/filtrationcolumn. The increase in efficiency is likely to be due to the removal by sorption in the activatedcarbon of compounds that interfere with EC. Additionally, as desired, the use of EC before thesorption unit extended the activated carbon lifetime.