The Mistery of the Four R’s

Once upon the time there was a

boy named Jimmy. Jimmy was

about your age and he lived in a

rural area in Costa Rica. It turned

out that the principal from Jimmy’s school decided to

enroll his school in a

competition about the

“4R’s”.

Jimmy and his friends

wanted to win the contest,

but they did not have a clue

about what did the “4R’s”

stand for. They decided to

investigate more about this

mysterious subject, so they interviewed people in their

school and their neighborhoods.

The first person to help them was Jimmy’s mom. She

told him that one of the R’s was for Recycling. –"What

is recycling?”, Jimmy asked.

-“Recycling is when you

take a material, for

example a plastic bottle,

and regain its material to

make something new, let’s

say barrettes for your sister’s hair. You can recycle

plastic, metal, paper, glass and a whole bunch of

things…”

-Thank you mom! I got it!

Daniel, who is Jimmy’s best friend, asked his

grandmother about the

“4R’s” and she told him that

one of the R’s was for

Reusing. -“Reusing is when you continue to use the

same material over and over. I use the same bottle to

carry water, instead of buying a new one every time

I’m thirsty. You could use the same plastic bag every

time you go shopping.”

Having “recycling”

and “reusing” on

their minds, Jimmy

and Daniel asked

Carlos to help them

research about the

other two R’s. Carlos told the guys that they should

ask their teachers, so they did it. Their Social Studies

teacher told them that the third R was for reducing.

-“What kind of thing can you reduce?” the three of

them asked at the same time. –“Several”, the teacher

said. “”When you are giving a small present, you can

wrap it in a small piece of paper instead of putting it in

a big box. Also, when you go to the supermarket you

can buy your groceries in bags instead of buying them

on plastic container.” Carlos responded to the teacher

and the boys –“That’s true. My mom buys a bag of

liquid soap and pours it into a bottle we have at

home.”

“Now we just

need to find out

what is the

meaning of the

last R”, Jimmy

said. They

asked other

teachers, but they did not know the answer. At last,

they asked their Science teacher and he told them

“That’s an easy question. The answer is rejecting.

When you bring your own bags to the supermarket,

you are rejecting other plastic bags. When you reuse

the boxes and bags they give you at the grocery store,

you are rejecting to produce more garbage. When you

carry your own bottle, you are rejecting to buy

another bottle that may end up in a river. As you see,

you can help the

environment by rejecting.”

In that way, Jimmy, Daniel,

and Carlos solved the

mystery of the “4R’s”.

Recycling¸ reusing, reducing, and rejecting were the

keys, not only to solve this enigma, but to help the

environment and win the contest. They told this

information to their classmates, and together they

won the contest by implementing the 4Rs.

Would you implement them too? It is easier than you

think… First, you can reduce the amount of garbage

you produce by carrying your own bag when you go

shopping, and rejecting to use another plastic bag.

You can reuse your juice bottle to carry your

beverages to school. You can recycle the paper from

your old notebooks and school projects, as well as the

groceries containers you use at home. It takes

everybody’s effort to help our world.

Images taken from:

http://therealmissdrea-daily.com/2014/03/black-

women-in-television/

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museos-y-peques-yo-me-lo-guiso-yo-me-lo-como/

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TwJ30dwWTsI/AAAAAAAAATw/_xEAw8DPQaQ/s1600/

IMG_5508.JPG

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dubai-2013/

http://www.caminosanluis.com.ar/ninos-periodistas-

participan-en-el-certamen-educadrez/

http://www.twu.edu/fmc/acceptable.asp

http://recyclefordorset.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/

choose-to-reuse.jpg

http://www.hernehillforum.org.uk/sites/default/files/

u4/IMG00464-20101209-1211.jpg

http://www.toyota.co.th/en/toyota_csr/img/4r.jpg

http://www.adoptionwales.org/2012/11/st-davids-

children-society-one-of-the-top-four-adoption-services-

in-the-uk/

http://www.city.oita.oita.jp/www/contents/

1273391466237/simple/common/other/

517f34e4002.gif

http://pre-loved.co/keep-calm-and-recycle/