The local government will more than triple the maximum fine for the improper collection, trade or disposal of waste cooking oil to 100,000 yuan ($16,041) in an effort to eliminate the use of recycled cooking oil in the city, officials announced at a press conference Wednesday.

The increased fine is part of a series of regulations that will take effect March 1 to crack down on the illicit "gutter oil" trade and encourage restaurants, collection companies and processing plants to properly dispose of used cooking oil.

"The regulations fully recognize gutter oil as a resource with a market value, as it can be processed into biodiesel fuel," said Liu Ping, vice director of the Legislative Affairs Office of the Shanghai Municipal People's Government. "Thus, restaurants or any other place where gutter oil is produced will be exempted from existing waste disposal fees. Instead, oil collection companies will buy it from these places," Liu said.

The oil's purchase price will be determined by three trade associations, which will consider factors including the fluctuating price of cooking oil and labor costs, according to the Legislative Affairs Office.

"Because all collection companies will be required to install video cameras in their vehicles and plants, the authority can closely monitor their activity, said Cui Liping, the deputy Party secretary of the Shanghai Municipal Afforestation and City Appearance and Environmental Sanitation Administration. "We believe that no gutter oil will fall into the hands of illegal processing plants if the measures are fully implemented."

Currently, there are 18 authorized waste oil collection companies in Shanghai. "Every day, they help produce 70 tons to 80 tons of semi-processed oil that can be transformed into biodiesel," Cui said.

In 2012, about 32,000 restaurants and companies reported how much waste oil they produced to local authorities. The total amount of semi-processed oil was 23,000 tons. "We will continue to demand that collection companies upgrade their equipment so they will be able to produce more semi-processed oil," Cui said.

To discourage the gutter oil trade, the government increased the maximum fine for the illegal collection, trade or disposal of waste cooking oil from 30,000 yuan. "The goal is to make it expensive to violate this regulation," Liu said.

The regulation also specified the areas of responsibility for the different government agencies involved to make supervision and enforcement more effective.