EVERYDAY LIFE ROUND THE SCRAP YARDS IN WARSAW (Codziennosc wokól skupów zlomu w Warszawie)

This paper explores the survival strategies, daily-paths and everyday activities of a group of homeless men in Warsaw who live by scavenging. It is based on data collected during three months (April-June 2008) of participant observation focussed on a street corner in the vicinity of two recycling centres/scrap yards, where a group of waste-picking men after selling the scavenged goods meet and hang out on a daily basis. The place performs multiple functions and is a central point both in their daily-paths, their time-organizing framework and their functions in a group.