Water hotspots will be highlighted across the Isle of Man as part of efforts to reduce plastic usage.

Refill Isle of Man encourages local shops, cafes, restaurants, tourist attractions and publicly accessible premises to allow people to fill up their water bottles for free.

A sticker and inclusion on the App will highlight those establishments, or places, taking part.

Refill is run by City to Sea, a not-for-profit organisation that campaigns to prevent marine plastic pollution.

The scheme has been locally by UNESCO Biosphere Isle of Man with the support of Manx Utilities.

To sign up as refill stations premises must have a cold water tap that isn’t in a toilet area or over an open drain.

Environment, Food and Agriculture Minister Geoffrey Boot says: “As a government we are also formulating the second part of our Single Use Plastics Plan to deter use of plastic across our community.

“We need water to live and stay healthy.

“We lead busy lives, we exercise more and we get out and about and enjoy the countryside. So we carry water with us and consume it on move.

“But we are all aware of how harmful to the environment plastic can be.

“In manufacturing plastic in the first place we are depleting our planet’s valuable natural resources.

“And in continuing the culture of purchasing water in throwaway bottles, we risk careless disposal that blights our countryside and beaches and leads to the heart-breaking images we see of beautiful land and marine creatures that have died agonising deaths after ingesting plastic.

“It’s time to turn the plastic water bottle from the fashion accessory it had become to something socially unacceptable when used once and thrown away.

“Refill will make it easy to fill up with water on the move.

“We hope premises will become Refill Stations – and that residents and visitors alike will visit these stations to fill up their own bottles with water when out and about.”