I don’t live in Britain so I can’t hazard a guess on litter problems there but I would think that they are getting worse in America. Additionally, I believe that problems are worse now than when I as an adolescent and I base this on the fact that when the population increases, so does consumption of many different things which leads to a much larger accumulation of litter.
Recycling is a good method for trying to make an impact on reducing waste and helping to save resources but it can only do so much. Landfills can fill up fast in large urbanized areas and then there are the problems of running out of acreage for more disposal and possible ground contamination for all of that buried garbage. Burning the refuse threatens the air quality and dumping it in the ocean is unconscionable, in my opinion, because that pollutes what might be the last, mostly untainted environment we have left on the planet.
I care alot about the community I live in and the environment in general and yes, the litter problem is something that I find distressing because I think it is going to get much worse before we find significant ways to make it better.