Juniper Communities has spent the better part of 30 years pushing for greater sustainability practices with its Green Canopy initiative. In 2025, there are no plans to slow down, as Green Canopy has resulted in multiple benefits, including in driving company culture and controlling costs.
The initiative started in the mid-1990s, according to CEO Lynne Katzmann. She credits Juniper’s internal interior designer Richard Ottens with the genesis of the program. At the time, the Bloomfield, New Jersey-based company was developing three communities, the first of which was built to the city of Austin, Texas’ green building standards.
“[Ottens] said to me, ‘Lynne, we take care of people, but we have to take care of the environment,’” Katzmann told Senior Housing News.
Within a year or two, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards were being developed, and Katzmann said Juniper was quick to adapt those practices.
From there, the practices only continued to grow and develop, so much so that Juniper was recently awarded the inaugural Senior Housing News Green Guardian Award, part of the Prism Awards. The award recognizes operators that have made significant achievements in environmental sustainability.
Among the other practices adopted across its 31 communities are efforts to reduce single-use plastic waste, aiming to be zero waste, paper reduction through technology utilization and increasing energy efficiency and water conservation efforts.
Ottens left Juniper in 2020, and leadership of Green Canopy shifted to Chief Operating Officer Donald Breneman, who sought to find ways to reduce the amount of single use materials throughout the Covid pandemic. Breneman is credited with leading the effort in reducing paper products across the company as well.
Looking ahead, Breneman told Senior Housing News one of his goals is to have the first zero waste senior living community in the country.
“At Juniper, it’s part of our culture. It’s just part of what we do,” Katzmann told Senior Housing News. “What I love about Green Canopy the most is that the major efforts we’ve made have all come from team members who have said this is important … and they’ve championed it.”
Culture of sustainability
While Katzmann noted Juniper could do better in marketing and advertising its Green Canopy efforts, sustainability is part of the company’s signature programs and is considered one of its values, which are on display in its communities.
She added while the issue of sustainability may not be the most important to some residents, it is for their children.
Juniper’s first community built to LEED certification standards was completed in 2001, and the company has continued to develop the initiative in a variety of ways in order to live up to its ethos of “doing well by doing good” the company’s Prism Awards submission notes.
Among the most significant strides made in recent years is a strong incorporation of technology in order to reduce paper waste. Instead of printing calendars and handouts, residents are educated on the use of digital signage, community portals, apps and voice activated access to information.
Juniper has a goal of being completely waste free by 2025, the submission documents stated. Katzmann said while that goal hasn’t been achieved just yet, it’s still early in the year, and paper use has dramatically decreased over the past five years.
Indeed, Juniper has reduced around 80% of its total waste companywide, Breneman said. Additionally, the company has started a composting program at several of its communities, which he said has been a great collaboration between the dining and activities teams, as compostable material is then used by a variety of clubs and activities.
Breneman added he is looking into federal programs in order to better measure the amount of waste being reduced companywide.
Besides adapting technology across its buildings, Juniper focused on reducing plastic waste through reusable stainless steel utensils for medication dispensing. Rather than using plastic for dining services, it has adopted cardboard and paper alternatives where possible.
The overall success of the rollout comes from the involvement of team members, who Breneman said were able to identify complications, such as texture sensitivities, and come up with solutions that could be adopted.
“It was things I wasn’t even thinking of, because I don’t do that job like they do,” Breneman said. “They know the ins and outs and where it might fail. And instead of failing and not doing it, they came to me with a solution.”
Alongside the environmental benefits, Katzmann added the company has seen “huge savings” from switching to more sustainable practices.
While the transition has been slow over the years, Katzmann said it has been worth it.
“Is it a simple transition? No. People love their paper, they love getting something under their door, but they understand that it’s wasteful, and they understand that it costs money, and they’re always interested in saving money,” she said.
Looking to the future, she added the Green Canopy Initiative will continue to be driven by community staff and team members.
“Green Canopy is done at the initiative of our team members,” she said. “One of the beautiful things about Juniper is the people that work here are very mission driven and values driven … Green Canopy is an excellent example of that.”
Building and acquiring practices
Juniper is among the many operators focused on growing through acquisitions while also embarking on capital projects. When looking into acquiring a new community, the company takes an approach meant to focus on “climate-risk reduction factors for potential sites including geo-thermal, solar or sustainable construction practices/features,” according to the awards submission document.
One of the primary factors the company focuses on is the prevalence of flood plains.
“A lot of it has to do with our perceived risk of the environment,” Katzmann said. “We look at wind exposure, we look at fire exposure … we also look for [asbestos and lead paint] in older buildings.”
Upon the successful acquisition of a community, Juniper replaces outdated fixtures with more energy efficient and modern components, such as low volatile organic compound carpeting to be nontoxic.
The practice holds appeal for investment partners as well, the submission document notes, by “maximizing value and overall environmental impact in collaboration for future sustainable enhancements.”
Katzmann said this approach to environmental sensitivity hasn’t slowed Juniper’s growth up to this point, and the company is always looking for opportunities that fit within its environmental criteria.
Building practices are likely going to be among the ways the Green Canopy Initiative continues to grow and develop throughout the remainder of the year, with HVAC systems needing to be replaced in older communities and continuing to find more energy efficient uses of electricity.
Juniper is also taking another look into renewable energy sources for its communities, and Breneman noted acquisition sites are being identified for their possibilities to replace existing systems with more sustainable energy alternatives, such as solar networks or geothermal applications.
“The usage of energy, and particularly for digitization and technology for data and analytics, is increasing dramatically, and we need to look at that as a society,” Katzmann said.
