Why are we dropping litter?

A local councillor recently took us to task for dropping litter which he claimed showed that we are being 'socially irresponsible'. 
But if we look at the bigger picture we see that dropping litter is a symptom of a general disregard of public space.  Perhaps we go to the core of the matter when we recall that same councillor's one time party leader who claimed that 'there is no such thing as society.'
The mantra of today is 'private good, public bad.'  So our public spaces are sold off to private developers, streets go uncleaned, grass verges become overgrown, local community halls and libraries close down and roads remain unrepaired.
Of course, we need to be responsibe for our own behaviour, but studies have shown that we have multiple facets to our personalities and those which come to the fore are usually those which are encouraged and rewarded by the 'system' under we happen to be living at any time.
Today competition, greed and generally looking after number one are the order of the day.  Is it any wonder that we take so little pride in our local environment?