Over 30 years ago, Massachusetts took a big step toward a cleaner environment and controlling litter when it put a five-cent refundable deposit on the most popular beverages at the time: soda and beer. That deposit system has been a huge success for over three decades — 80 percent of bottles and cans with a deposit are recycled, according to the Department of Environmental Protection.

Today, bottled water, sports drinks, iced teas, juices, and other on-the-go beverages are widely available and extremely popular. Just 23 percent of these bottles — bottles without a deposit — are recycled, even with the availability of curbside recycling.

Since these beverages are so often consumed away from home, the bottles wind up in the trash or littering our streets and parks, not in the home recycling bin.

We need to update the Bottle Bill — the most effective recycling tool we have — to cover water bottles and similar on-the-go drinks that weren't on the shelves 30 years ago, so that these beverage containers are recycled just as soda and beer containers are recycled.

When we vote yes to pass Question 2, over 1.25 billion more bottles will be diverted from landfills and will be recycled each year.

In addition to keeping more bottles out of our state's waterways, parks, and streets, Question 2 would establish the Clean Environment Fund, directly sending the unclaimed deposits into a dedicated fund to improve recycling, clean up parks, and fund other environmental projects.

Only a yes vote on Question 2 will remove unclaimed deposits from the commonwealth's general fund and put them into this fund for the environment.

Over 100 organizations, committees, businesses, and elected officials support updating the Bottle Bill, including the Environmental League of Massachusetts, League of Women Voters of Massachusetts, Rep. Mary Keefe (D-Worcester), Shrewsbury Recycles, and the West Boylston Solid Waste Advisory Team.

Corporations that make big profits from selling bottled water, sports drinks, and other similar products are spending millions in out-of-state money to persuade Massachusetts voters the Bottle Bill should not be updated.

Whenever you see empty bottles along I-290 or in Quinsigamond State Park, remember that big beverage companies have poured almost $8 million into Massachusetts to keep it that way. They are more concerned with protecting their profits than protecting our open spaces from litter.

Voting yes on Question 2 will also save cities and towns about $7 million a year now spent for litter collection, trash disposal, and storm drain cleaning. Worcester alone would save almost $200,000 annually. In fact, 209 cities and towns passed resolutions in support of the updated Bottle Bill knowing they would save money.

In his recent endorsement of a yes vote on Question 2, Gov. Patrick said it perfectly: "Yes on 2 will increase recycling, clean up our parks, and save cities and towns money."

The choice is simple: voting yes on Question 2 will save taxpayers money while keeping our beautiful state beautiful. Massachusetts voters who want less litter and more recycling will vote yes on Question 2 on Nov. 4.

Phil Sego is an environmental advocate at the Massachusetts Sierra Club, where he's worked for 12 years on environmental issues. He is also a member of the YES on 2 Coalition to Update the Bottle Bill.