Tuggeranong residents are still kicking up a stink about a smell believed to be coming from the Mugga Lane tip, a year after the ACT government ordered urgent action on it.
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City services minister Meegan Fitzharris said in committee hearings on Thursday she had not received a complaint about the smell for some months.
But after a post-it note was surreptitiously delivered mid-proceedings, Ms Fitzharris admitted a few complaints had been received this year.
ACT NOWaste director Michael Trushell said in February last year, then minister Shane Rattenbury asked the department to "undertake a number of activities which we have and those are ongoing".
He said the department was still working to find and eliminate the source.
"The EPA asked us to change the way we cover the operating landfill face, to ensure overnight there was less risk of odour escaping and [they] identified we needed to accelerate our capping program around the side of the landfill to address the risk of excess methane escaping," Mr Trushell said.
"We've looked at the electricity generation plant that captures the methane to eliminate that as a source, we've assessed the materials recovery facility, similarly we assessed the transfer station and other activities including the recycling and the green waste recycling.
"You're always going to have odour as a result of waste decomposing and therefore that is something that has to be managed in a way that confines the odour to acceptable environmental standards on the site."
Acting deputy director of City Services Jim Corrigan said the source has been "difficult to pinpoint" but the government was still working on it.
Complaints about the putrid, "rotting vegetable" stench have been well documented since at least 2014.
The smell has been so bad that in some cases, residents have considered moving.
