Parish Walkers will this weekend drink water from environmentally-friendly cups.

Drinks company MannVend is supplying hundreds of compostable, plastic-free water cups to them.

They are made from a material made from plants, are 100% compostable and not made from fossil fuels.

Tracey Leahy, managing director of MannVend, said: ’It’s a great opportunity to demonstrate the island’s commitment to reducing plastic waste and our carbon footprint.

We’re delighted that the Parish Walk’s organising committee share MannVend’s determination to do everything we can to protect the environment, and we’re delighted to help them by providing plastic-free cups from Vegware, one of the leading manufacturers of compostable products.’

Ray Cox, Parish Walk race director, said: ’The organising committee and I recognise the responsibility we have to reduce the environmental impact of the event, and we’re very grateful to MannVend for helping us to make significant progress this year in regard to reducing plastic waste.’

All cups supplied to the organisers will be used at the official water station in Peel.

Waste cups will be collected and taken to a composting facility om the island. Composting the waste on-island further reduces the event’s carbon footprint because it eliminates carbon emissions that would result from transporting the used cups overseas.

For a preview of the Parish Walk, which starts tomorrow (Saturday) see this week’s Manx Independent, which is on sale now.