Tiza Mafira

Tiza Mafira is an environmental activist from Jakarta, Indonesia. She initiated the paid plastic bag policy enforced in supermarkets throughout Indonesia, and the Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet Movement with various organizations to raise awareness of the harms of single-use plastic bags. Mafira received the Ocean Heroes Award from the UN Environment.

Education Mafira holds a bachelor of laws from the University of Indonesia, where she majored in International Law. specializing in Corporate Law, Climate Change, Carbon Trading.

Career Mafira worked as a corporate lawyer for six years at the Makarim & Taira S. law firm, in natural resources and forestry law, before switching to environmental policy. She is also the executive director of the Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet Campaign.

Mafira became one of five environmental activist figures from five countries (Indonesia, India, United Kingdom, Thailand and the United States) who received the Ocean Heroes award from the United Nations Environment Programme on 8 June 2018. Mafira started the Indonesia Plastic Bag Diet campaign in October 2010. This campaign invited the public to start reducing the use of plastic bags, by bringing their own shopping bags or reusing plastic bags. The aim of the collaboration is to increase the participation of the Indonesian people at individual and institutional levels, and to unify the impact of the entire campaign.

The trial of the paid plastic bag policy came into effect on 21 February 2016 in 23 cities across Indonesia. As a result, there was an 80 percent decrease in the use of plastic bags. However, the trial did not last long, as many parties disagreed with the implementation of the policy. Some retailers expressed concerns that customers would leave if free bags were not provided. Mafira says that a demand for reusables could help support the economy through local crafts.