This paper describes a RDT&E effort by the United States Army and Navy and the Environmental Protection Agency which is focused on reducing the noise, pollutants, entrained soil, blast wave, and shrapnel released when conventional propellants, explosives and pyrotechnics (PEP) are destroyed by open-air burning (OB) and detonation (OD). Its objectives are: (1) to obtain an understanding of the chemical and physical processes which occur when PEP materials are destroyed by OB and OD; (2) to combine this information with that from previous studies to develop methods that minimize and control the noise, heat, shrapnel, blast wave and toxic inorganic and organic compounds released by OB and OD activities; and (3) to modernize the OB and OD technologies.