Radioactive Waste in Probably Stolen: Cyberpunk Shopkeeper Sim is worth nothing, customers will not take it, and every barrel eats table space. Getting rid of it takes a trip to the Dumping Grounds, and the first time, someone brings it back.
Quick answer: Radioactive Waste is worth 0, customers won’t buy it and the Trash Can won’t remove it. Leave the barrels in the GROUND panel at the Dumping Grounds after hours; Georgio returns your first dump once, and the second dump is gone.
Radioactive Waste item details
The tooltip reads “Radioactive waste material. Handle with care.” The flavor text is blunter: “A collection of hazardous nuclear waste. No one wants to deal with this stuff.” The game backs that up. The item has no use in the store.
| Property | Radioactive Waste |
|---|---|
| Base value | 0 |
| Contraband | No |
| Size | 3 x 4 (12 cells) |
| Can be sold | No, customers refuse it |
| Vending Machine | Not allowed |
Radioactive Waste appears in none of the game’s achievements, endings, store requests, or Mentor’s Notes. There’s no reason to hold onto a barrel.
Where Radioactive Waste comes from
The Corporate Waste Manager is a one-time visitor who turns up at random in the early weeks: from Day 3 if you skipped the intro, from Day 11 if you played it. His pitch: “Hello, I got some hazardous waste to dispose of. Proper disposal is expensive. I’ll pay you 100 Credits per barrel.” You choose Take 1, 3 or 5 barrels. Payment covers only barrels that fit on your table; ones that don’t fit stay off the table and earn nothing.
What the Corporate Waste Manager visit looked like
On Day 16 (a Tuesday) of our Mark Up run, the Corporate Waste Manager came to the window in a gas mask and a blue jacket and set five green barrels on the ledge: “I’ll pay you 100 Credits per barrel.” The replies were [Take 1 barrel], [Take 3 barrels] and [Take 5 barrels].
We took one. The 100 credits arrived at once, 192 to 292, and the barrel stayed on the window ledge for us to move. Its tooltip matches the description above.
The Makeshift Reactor starting perk cuts your connection to station power and protects you from blackouts. Dr. Jackson provides an upgradable Makeshift Micro Nuclear Reactor at the start, and it requires regular repairs. As it deteriorates, barrels of Radioactive Waste appear in your store—about one every nine nights if you have no upgrades.
How to dump Radioactive Waste at the Dumping Grounds
Barrels can be taken only to the Dumping Grounds. If you haven’t dumped anything before, be ready to make two trips.
You’ll know it worked when the barrels stay off your table after the second trip and Georgio doesn’t come back with them.
Methods that don’t get rid of Radioactive Waste
- Selling it, because customers refuse the barrels.
- Stocking it in a Vending Machine, which won’t take it.
- The Trash Can. Paid Janitorial Service empties it every night, but Radioactive Waste stays inside (see below).
- If the barrels are still on the counter when closing ends, they’ll reappear on your table the next morning.
What the Corporate Waste Manager deal costs you
The Waste Manager pays up front: 100 credits a barrel, so 500 for five. In our run the 100 for one barrel landed the moment we chose. In return you take on barrels worth 0 that customers refuse, that need a 3 x 4 space each on your table, and that take two after-hours trips to the Dumping Grounds if Georgio has not already returned a dump for you.
What happened when we put a barrel in the Trash Can
The Trash Can’s tooltip reads “Items inside will be permanently removed at night if Janitorial Service is paid.” So on Day 16 we dragged our barrel into it, and the 3 x 4 barrel went in.
We paid Janitorial Service that night. The Day 17 Nightly Report said “The storefront has been cleaned and garbage has been collected.” and nothing about the barrel.
The barrel was still in the Trash Can the next morning. The can does keep it out of your inventory grid, and after one night it had cost us nothing we could see, but it does not get rid of it.
Take the deal when your table has room and you were going to the Dumping Grounds anyway; the Dumping Ground guide covers scavenging there on the same trip. Take fewer barrels when the table is full, because only the ones that fit are paid. More ways to earn are in how to make money fast.
Related guides: base values in the full items list and the complete Probably Stolen guide.
