Every GTA 5 Nuclear Waste location to complete Waste Management

GTA 5 Nuclear Waste Waste Management

For the GTA 5 Nuclear Waste side mission you need to pootle around under the sea, collecting up 30 nuclear waste barrels that are worryingly scattered across the ocean floor. Now admittedly, this isn't the most exciting thing to be doing in a game with so many activities on offer, but at least you'll rack up a decent amount of cash along the way and be able to collect the Waste Management Trophy or Achievement when your work is done. You won't be able to start this objective in GTA 5 until you've made considerable progress through the story missions, but when you're ready to track down every GTA 5 nuclear waste barrel then this guide will show you all of the locations to visit.

Buying the Dock

The trophy or achievement description reads: "Purchase the old dock and collect all nuclear waste." It's two simple steps that involve a lot of money and a lot of searching. Start by playing the story until The Merryweather Heist. After the mission, the Sonar Collections Dock in Paleto Cove will be put up for sale. Head there and spend the $250,000 asking price to get yourself the "old dock." We've marked the location as a dollar sign on the map.

(click to expand map) (Image credit: Rockstar Games)

Collecting the Nuclear Waste

Now the search begins. With the dock in your possession, you have access to a submarine - you can also unlock the Kraken submarine by completing the GTA 5 Wildlife Photography Challenge. Hop into the sub and prepare for a deep-sea search for nuclear waste barrels. For each barrel found, you'll earn $23,000, so finding all 30 barrels will net you a sweet $690,000.

Here's the thing about the nuclear waste: it's found at certain distances from the surface. Considering the ocean floor has few landmarks, using screenshots to help you locate the barrels isn't very helpful. Instead, use our map in conjunction with the Trackify app on your in-game phone to find each barrel. The Trackify app will ping the next barrel once one is collected, so it won't be too challenging to scoop them all up.

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Tony lives in Maryland, where he writes about those good old-fashioned video games for GamesRadar+. His words have also appeared on GameSpot and G4, but he currently works for Framework Video, and runs Dungeons and Dragons streams.