K181 RCRA waste code Dye & pigment plant waste, not wastewater, above a yearly loading limit.

Free, no account
Based on 40 CFR 261.32 and EPA hazardous-waste rules
Nothing is stored

K-listed waste
Non-wastewater dye or pigment waste meeting annual mass-loading limits

Industry: Organic chemicals.

Toxic K-listed waste from organic chemical plants. Nonwastewater from dye or pigment production, measured where it is generated.

Is K181 hazardous waste?

Yes, when the K181 conditions apply. K181 is a nonacute K-listed hazardous waste when the waste comes from the named process and stream. The federal table gives it hazard code (T), meaning toxicity.

K181 doesn't apply if another characteristic or F, K, P or U listing already makes the waste hazardous at generation. Keep that other basis. Reaching a K181 mass limit isn't enough either when a listed landfill or combustion exception applies.

On a required hazardous waste manifest, put K181 in Item 13. See VSQG exemptions and empty-container rules.

What does K181 cover?

Nonwastewater from specified dye or pigment production, including nonwastewaters commingled at generation, becomes K181 once an annual constituent mass limit is met. It isn't K181 before a limit is met, or when 261.21–261.24 or 261.31–261.33 already make it hazardous at generation. The listed landfill-disposal and permitted-combustion exceptions can also stop K181 applying.

Hazard code: (T), toxicity
Industry: Organic chemicals
Rule: 40 CFR 261.32

Is dye or pigment mass-loading waste K181 or another code?

Code	When it fits
K181	Dye or pigment production nonwastewater reaches an annual constituent limit, isn't otherwise hazardous at generation, and meets no disposal or combustion exception.
Other hazardous basis, or no K181 code	Another hazardous basis already applies at generation, every annual loading is below its limit, or a listed disposal or combustion exception applies.

Check K181's exclusions before assigning the code. A waste already hazardous at generation under another listed or characteristic basis keeps that basis, and K181 isn't added on top. The calendar-year mass-loading result and the exact disposal route settle the rest. Section 261.32(d) sets the demonstration, sampling and recordkeeping procedures.

Which annual mass-loading limits make K181 apply?

The 261.32(c) calendar-year limits are aniline 9,300 kg, o-anisidine 110 kg, 4-chloroaniline 4,800 kg, p-cresidine 660 kg, 2,4-dimethylaniline 100 kg, 1,2-phenylenediamine 710 kg and 1,3-phenylenediamine 1,200 kg. Reaching a limit makes the waste K181 only if its other conditions and exclusions are met.

For K181, dye or pigment production means making specified azo, triarylmethane, perylene or anthraquinone dyes, pigments or FDA-certified colors. Offsite use, formulation and packaging are outside the listing.

The disposal exceptions are a Subtitle D unit subject to 258.40, a Subtitle C unit subject to 264.301 or 265.301, or another Subtitle D unit meeting the 258.40, 264.301 or 265.301 design criteria. Combustion qualifies in a Subtitle C-permitted unit or an on-site unit permitted under the Clean Air Act.

Under 261.4(b)(15), landfill leachate or gas condensate from K181 waste disposed of before August 23, 2005 is excluded only if it has no hazardous waste characteristic, comes from no other listed hazardous waste, and its discharge is regulated under Clean Water Act section 307(b) or 402. From February 26, 2007, holding it in a surface impoundment before discharge ends the exclusion. The one exception is temporary emergency storage in a double-lined impoundment, followed by compliant management.

Which codes sit beside K181?

Code	What it is
K170	Slurry-oil tank sediment and filter solids from a petroleum refinery
K171	Spent hydrotreating catalyst from a petroleum refinery
K172	Spent hydrorefining catalyst from a petroleum refinery
K174	Wastewater sludge from making ethylene dichloride or vinyl chloride
K175	Wastewater sludge from acetylene-based vinyl chloride production
K176	Baghouse filters from making antimony oxide
K177	Discarded or speculatively accumulated slag from making antimony oxide
K178	Ferric chloride manufacturing or storage residue from titanium dioxide production