GTA 5 nuclear waste: how to collect all 30 barrels and earn $940,000

The barrels appear once two conditions are met: you have finished the story mission The Merryweather Heist and bought Sonar Collections Dock. It is an old dock in Paleto Cove in northwest Blaine County and costs $250,000.

Any of the three protagonists can buy the dock, according to GTA Fandom and GTABoss. Some guides say Michael does it. The money for the barrels goes to whoever owns the dock, but all three can search.

After the purchase you get an email from Dr. Varley, an environmentalist in Paleto Bay, asking for help cleaning up the seabed. A Submersible spawns at the dock. Get in and Trackify opens on your phone.

The numbers on the maps match the tables below. The dots are placed by in-game coordinates, so the distances between them are true to the game. The first map covers Los Santos and the south, the second Blaine County and the north. Where the table puts several numbers in one row (for example, 4-6), the individual numbers on the map come from the GTA Fandom interactive map.

Numbering follows GTA Fandom. GTABoss numbers the barrels differently, and IGN differs from this order only at #27-28, so in other guides search by area, not by number. Trackify always leads to the nearest barrel and the order is up to you. Where several barrels sit close together, they share one row: guides describe them differently, so there is no reliable way to say which one carries which number.

Crush depth is the depth below which the Submersible cannot dive. Barrels near it lie at 140-155 m, according to GTABoss. Check the areas on the GTA 5 map.

• Trackify shows direction, not distance. The barrel blip sits at the edge of the screen until you are close. Follow it, and when it moves toward the centre, start diving.
• Just touch the barrel. The sub picks it up. According to GTA Fandom, you can also grab a barrel by swimming.
• Hold the phone upright. GTA Fandom warns that if you board the sub with the phone in landscape mode (for example, while reading an email), Trackify opens rotated by 90° and the blips point the wrong way.
• Watch your depth. Several barrels sit on cliff ledges near crush depth. Go only as deep as you need.
• Follow a route. The easiest way is to circle the coast: Paleto Bay and the north, Humane Labs, Palomino Highlands, then past Los Santos to Del Perro and Pacific Bluffs, then Chumash and Zancudo. The trips between groups are long, so clear each group in one go.

IGN takes the sub around the coast in the same direction as the GTA Fandom numbering: from the dock east along the north shore, down the east coast to Palomino Highlands, around the port and the airport to Del Perro, then north along the west coast. That way the sub makes one loop of the map and never doubles back. The distances in the table are straight lines between group centres on our map. By sea the trip is longer: you have to round headlands, and between Terminal and Del Perro the port and the airport as well.

The full loop is about 27 km even in straight lines. That is where the 1.5-2 hours quoted by GTA Fandom and GTABoss come from: the sub spends most of that time travelling between groups.

• Diving all the way down at the deep spots. According to GTA Fandom, at about 150 m the sub warns that the pressure is too high, and if you keep going down it gets crushed with the character inside. GTABoss puts the deepest barrels at 145-155 m: two on ledges north of Mount Gordo, one southeast of the island off Palomino Highlands and one west of North Chumash. Approach the ledge from the side, not from above.
• Looking for a barrel by eye in murky water. Between the Zancudo River mouth and the west end of the Fort Zancudo runway the water turns muddy brown, so a barrel only shows up close. IGN and GTABoss suggest steering by Trackify here until the barrel glows right next to you.
• Giving up because of the dock price. The $250,000 dock pays for itself at the 11th barrel: 11 × $23,000 = $253,000. The $250,000 bonus for all 30 is pure profit (GTA Fandom, GTABoss).
• Collecting the barrels separately from the submarine pieces. In five places barrels lie 100-270 m from wrecks where you search for Abigail’s pieces: off Paleto Bay, off Mount Gordo, at two wrecks near Fort Zancudo and at the plane east of Terminal. If you have already done Blitz Play, clear those spots in one trip. The full list is on the submarine pieces page.

The dock owner gets $23,000 for every barrel straight away, or $690,000 for all 30. The last barrel adds a $250,000 bonus. That makes $940,000 in total. The bonus pays back the dock, so the rest is pure profit.

All 30 barrels unlock the Waste Management achievement, described in-game as «Purchase the old dock and collect all nuclear waste». The other rewards are listed on the GTA 5 achievements page.

The barrels are not needed for GTA 5 100% completion. For other ways to get rich, see how to make money in GTA 5.

Both collections are unlocked by the same dock, and players often mix them up. The main differences:

• Submarine pieces. After the mission Blitz Play, Michael meets Abigail Mathers at the dock and the hunt for 30 pieces begins. All locations are on the GTA 5 submarine pieces page.
• An Epsilon tract. The sixth of the ten tracts lies on the low landing of this dock. See Epsilon tracts.
• The Dinghy. After you meet Abigail, a Dinghy with scuba gear also appears at the dock. It is handy for reaching other underwater wrecks.

All the game’s collections are gathered in the GTA 5 collectibles section.