A KKR-Backed Medical Waste Company Faces a Messy Situation
The private equity giant planned to turn Trilogy MedWaste into a powerhouse in the business of disposing of used needles and other hazardous materials. But a management mutiny and criminal charges against a former CEO complicated that vision.
There are companies that suffer from management messes, and there are companies whose businesses involve disposing of messes. Private equity giant KKR & Co. helped create a company that combines both qualities.
Nearly seven years ago, KKR became the controlling shareholder of a company, Trilogy MedWaste, that was seeking to become a national powerhouse in the medical waste industry—the business of cleaning and disposing of hazardous materials like used needles and pharmaceuticals. The company has hit some hurdles on its way to achieving that vision, according to financial documents seen by The Information. But those weren’t the biggest obstacles it encountered.
In 2022, an internal feud between the members of the founding team at Trilogy led to the departure of four company veterans, including its CEO. And in November 2023, a new CEO that KKR had hired to turn things around, Russell Schuster, was ousted three months after joining the company after police in Vermont charged him with groping underage teenage girls.