About us
Spruce Carpets was incorporated in February 2005 and
commenced operational trading in March 2005.
The company was created by Kate Atkinson. It was when
she was volunteering for a furniture recycling organisation
that Kate noticed furniture recyclers were often asked
for recycled carpet but could not supply it. That
was at the end of 2003. Over the course of the
following year Kate developed her idea of creating a
carpet recycling company and applied for start up funding.
In 2005 Spruce Carpets Ltd began trading.
Kate worked as the Development Officer during the first
year of operations and quickly recruited one of the key
members of our team, John Armstrong, as Operations Manager.
John has over 30 valuable years experience in the carpet
business. During the first year we offered 2 trainee
carpet fitter positions and began the phased engagement
of the part-time volunteers. Our volunteer programme
is aimed at helping people from disadvantaged or hard
to reach backgrounds.
Kate has now moved on to work on other projects and
in March 2006 we employed our CEO, Izzie Johnston. We now have 6 full time members of staff
and this will increase over the coming months as we bring
some of our trainees into full time employment.
Funding
Spruce Carpets has received start-up funding and project
specific funding support from:
- Transforming Waste Scotland
- Scotland Unlimited
- National House Building Council
- Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA)
- The INCREASE programme
- The Esmee Fairbairn Foundation
and in-kind support from:
- Scottish Community Foundation
- Community Recycling Network Scotland (CRNS)
- Scottish Industrial Symbiosis Programme (SISP) and
Thirdwave Scotland Ltd
The company intends to become self-sufficient and is
planning its expansion beyond Glasgow.
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