Russian villagers scavenge fallen Soyuz junk to survive

In Russia's spacebelt, impoverished villages scavenge debris from discarded Soyuz stages and other fallen spacejunk to make ends meet:

Since the Plesetsk Space Center began operations in northern Russia forty years ago, tons of man-made debris - first stages of rockets mainly - have fallen to earth, generating both a cash opportunity for local villagers, and a source of danger, RIA Novosti recently reported.

Some villages survive only on this cosmic garbage, unable to find other ways to make ends meet...

Lesser-damaged parts are used in households: electric batteries are connected to lamps, metal sheets made of stainless alloys are used to build basements, garages, fences, water tracks and long, slim boats, much like canoes.

Link (via Futurismic)

Update: Brendan sez, "I'd like to point you towards a photo essay by Jonas Bendiksen with some magnificant pictures taken of some fallen space debris in Kazakhstan."