GFL Closes the Secure Deal — A Take-Private Decision Reportedly Comes Next

EPA Extends RFS Compliance Reporting Deadline to October 1

EPA extended the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) compliance reporting deadline for the 2025 compliance year from September 1 to October 1, 2026, per a notice published in the Federal Register on September 4.¹ The extension follows EPA's August 31 decisions on 34 pending small refinery exemption (SRE) petitions under the RFS program, which affected the compliance calculations obligated parties — including landfill-gas-to-RNG producers — need to finalize their reporting.¹

Separately, no new developments were identified this week on California's SB 54 packaging EPR litigation; the January 15, 2027 hearing date on the 17-state coalition's motion to block the entire law remains the operative timeline, as reported in last week's issue.²

No major new EU, UK, or China environmental regulatory development was identified specifically within this week's coverage window.

The EU's Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition Directive (EmpCo) becomes binding across all member states on September 27, prohibiting generic environmental marketing claims (e.g., "eco-friendly," "green," "climate neutral") unless backed by recognized third-party certification.³ This is a compliance deadline worth flagging now for any client with EU-facing marketing or packaging claims, three weeks ahead of enforcement.

GFL completed its acquisition of Secure Waste Infrastructure Corp., significantly expanding its Western Canada footprint through Secure's industrial waste-management and energy-infrastructure assets; Secure CEO Allen Gransch and his management team are staying on post-close.⁴ On the related earnings call, CEO Patrick Dovigi confirmed the Secure deal and GFL's separate take-private discussions have been running on "parallel paths," and that two of the parties interested in taking GFL private had also been evaluating Secure — GFL had no intention of breaking off the Secure deal as take-private talks continued.⁴

Per trade reporting, formal take-private offers for GFL are expected the third week of September — the most concrete timeline yet on a situation that has been open since early July.⁴ Separately, both Onterris's board-led strategic review and BP's Archaea Energy sale process remain unchanged from last week: no new timetable, price, or counterparty has been disclosed for either.^5,6

Tucson officials, joined by Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs and Mayor Regina Romero, highlighted new ion-exchange technology set to come online by the end of September at the city's TARP groundwater treatment facility.⁷ The plant was shut down in 2021 after rising PFAS levels were detected and has since discharged treated water to a river and reclaimed-water system rather than directly to customers; officials indicated the new resin-based treatment could eventually support a return to direct potable service, though no firm date was given.⁷

No new commercialization-stage technology announcement was identified specifically within this week's window. Trade press did recirculate coverage of a UCLA/Ewha Womans University research process that converts mixed, unsorted plastic waste directly into high-purity hydrogen fuel using alkaline thermal treatment — but that research was originally published in July 2026, remains explicitly lab-stage, and the researchers themselves note further work is needed on process economics before any commercial-scale evaluation.⁸ It is noted here only because it resurfaced in this week's industry press roundups, not because anything new occurred with it.