RAMALLAH, West Bank — Students from nine Palestinian schools in East Jerusalem are preparing for the final phase of an EU-sponsored initiative in which they will compete with their art projects made out of recycled garbage. 

As part of “My Green Jerusalem,” about 300 students aged between 10 and 13 participated in educational and cultural workshops on the environment and the importance of preserving it, and also learned how to recycle some waste into art projects for a competition between the participating schools later this month.

Shahd Idkaidek,13, is one of 30 students from the Young Muslim Women’s School who participated in the initiative to clean up the streets of East Jerusalem in early October. The school, located outside the old town in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood, is one out of nine schools that partook in the initiative. The others are Aytam al-Thawri, the Modern Kindergarten, the Modern Mixed Kindergarten, Nur al-Quds, Mar Mitri, Al-Hassad, Siraj al-Quds and Hassan II School.

"I participated in the initiative because I believe it is very important for the city of Jerusalem to become green and clean,” Idkaidek told Al-Monitor. She added that she and her fellow students collected garbage in the area around their school and nearby streets.