Explosives which have become unserviceable for blasting should be destroyed and never dumped into a garbage heap. It is a sound policy to seek expert advice from the manufacturers for methods of destroying explosives. Always assume that burning an explosive for destruction may change to detonation. The methods adopted for destroying are as follows.
Gunpowder — It should he thrown into water, preferably hot water, which dissolves out the-saltpetre and renders the explosive harmless.
Ammonium nitrate explosives — These are hygroscopic and may be buried in a damp ditch where they become harmless with the absorption of moisture. Or they may be destroyed by drowning in a large volume of water.
Explosives with nitro-glycerine — Not more than 25 kg of explosives should be destroyed at a time. A clear space of ground free from dry grass, about 100 m all around, should be selected and a line of shavings of dry straw or grass lay down. On this the cartridges should be placed in a continuous line not more that two abreast with the cartridge wrappers below them and with art interval of about 25 mm between two cartridges. The line of shavings of straw or grass should extend some distance, say 6 m, beyond the explosives. Kerosene should then be sprinkled over the shavings of straw or grass. The straw should be lit with a short length of safety fuse and the operator should withdraw immediately to a safe distance. The direction of wind should be given due consideration when burning the straw.
The degree of containment caused by the cartridge wrappers in high ex-plosives is sometimes sufficient to cause explosion. It is, therefore, essential to open the wrappers and unroll them.
Safety fuse — It should be destroyed by burning in length in the open under suitable precautions.
Detonators — They should be thrown into a deep river or alternatively, they may be soaked in mineral oil for 48 hours and then destroyed, one at a time under suitable precautions, by burning.
When destroying explosives do not select a stony site where burning or detonation could create situation of flying stones during destruction.
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