Bioremediation of Explosives in Contaminated Soil TNT is not the kind of substance that most people think of composting, but it can be done! At several U.S. Army depots, the water used in processing explosives was disposed of through evaporation from unlined lagoons. This has resulted in sediments and soils that are contaminated with TNT (2,4,6- trinitrotoluene) and its derivatives RDX (hexahydro-1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine) and HMX (octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetraazocine). One way of cleaning up these sediments is by incinerating them. A less expensive an