The average woman will have about 500 periods in her lifetime (moment of silence please) and will use about 16,800 pads or tampons in her lifetime.  Include the packaging and plastic applicators and you start to wonder – is there a landfill out there with my name on it?   Even if you are not totally converted to cloth, just switching to cloth panty liners for the last days of your period will make a huge difference over a lifetime.