SUPERIOR, WI (WTAQ) - The U.S. Army could have recycled its scraps of secret bombs in the 1950’s, instead of dumping them in Lake Superior.

It cost almost $4 million for the federal government to recover 25 barrels of military scraps last summer – and about 1,400 of them are still in the ground.

The Duluth News-Tribune said the cleanup would not have been necessary, had the Army taken the advice of the Honeywell Corporation. It suggested a $1,300 machine to crush the bomb parts, and then recycle them.

Instead, the Army put the top-secret materials into 55 gallon drums and buried them in Lake Superior. U.S. officials apparently did not want enemy forces to learn anything about the weapons, so they were dumped during the height of the Cold War.

The Duluth paper published a lengthy history Sunday about the dumping, its effects, and the possibility of recycling the bombs for much cheaper.

Wisconsin’s Red Cliff Indian tribe received federal grants to conduct the partial removals of the barrels last year.