Some say it smells like rotting food, and others compare it to working in a tip.
The smell comes and goes - it's worse in the morning, awful after the rain, and enough to drive some people out of the office and right back home again.
But its source has been undeniable - it's coming from Goterra, the celebrated maggot-tech start-up launched a decade ago by entrepreneur and former ACT Australian of the Year Olympia Yarger.
And the neighbours in the Hume industrial precinct aren't happy - it's understood that the National Gallery of Australia, which operates a large facility nearby, was considering legal action against Goterra as the smell had become unbearable.
Founded in her garage in 2016, Goterra was built on Ms Yarger's simple idea of using maggots to process food waste to divert it from landfill and reduce emissions.
When you put it like that, it's hardly surprising that the operation has involved some seriously funky odours.
Even amid rising national acclaim, Goterra has stayed in the ACT, moving from Fyshwick to the 12,000-square-metre facility in Hume in 2020 to handle growing demand from local hotels and supermarkets.
But it's now run into a funding crisis, and Ms Yarger announced last week Goterra had gone into voluntary administration.
Meanwhile, various businesses around the facility - which range widely from construction and gardening equipment to logistics and hospitality - have been suffering thanks to the persistent smell.
Responding to reports of odour complaints, Ms Yarger pointed out that the company had done everything it could to mitigate the smell, despite the very nature of its work.
"Goterra spent as every cent it could to upgrade the Canberra facility - over $1.3 million and counting was spent trying to upgrade the site," she said.
"We had worked with neighbours as much as we could to try and improve all outcomes, and we were unable to raise our round and therefore have ceased accepting waste at the site in Canberra."
An ACT government spokesperson confirmed that it was aware of concerns regarding odour from the Goterra facility, and that "over the last 12 months a small number of complaints had been received".
"The Environmental Protection Authority has undertaken multiple inspections and ongoing compliance activities, which have confirmed the site is in compliance with licence conditions at the time of inspection," the spokesperson said.
"Reported odour impacts have been intermittent, and the EPA is assessing monitoring information including odour logs from surrounding businesses to better understand the frequency and causes of these reports.
"The EPA continues to engage closely with the operator."
The owner of the building leased by Goterra, who preferred not to be named, said he had received no direct complaints in the two years since rectifying the building to prevent the overwhelming odour.
He said this had involved significant cleaning, and the installation of concrete drainage.
But commercial real estate agent at Ray White, Frank Giorgi, said it had taken some time to sell the empty property next door on Arnott Street because of the smell.
"It's pretty gross, and it's stunk out a kilometre radius," he said.
The building had eventually been sold to someone who wouldn't be spending much time there, apparently.
He confirmed that another nearby building on his books was proving impossible to lease after Australia Post moved out of it to Fyshwick to escape the smell.
Directly across the road at Cummins, an international manufacturer of diesel engines, operations manager Damien Bird confirmed that what was often wafting across the street was "definitely a foul smell, of rotting rubbish, like a tip".
"It's worse when it rains," he confirmed, although he had noticed the company taking measures to mask the smell with atomisers spraying "perfumed water" on the grounds.
"That was three or four months ago, but it hasn't really stopped [the smell]," he said.
But he and his team had been relatively sanguine about it, as it hadn't bothered them indoors.
"It hasn't been affecting us from a health point of view," he said, adding that he had never made any formal complaints.
"We haven't thrown our toys out of the pram, it's just been one of those things," he said.
Others hadn't been so tolerant. While the National Gallery of Australia declined to comment on the matter, Mr Bird and others confirmed they had received an email from gallery management informing them of their intentions and inquiring as to the experiences of other neighbouring businesses.
The City and Environment Directorate confirmed that an Environmental Protection Order had been issued to Goterra in March 2024 in response to odour risks and complaints, and that it had imposed "mandatory operational controls", including handling and unloading food waste indoors, restrictions on outdoor storage unless sealed, and a requirement to develop and implement an odour management plan.
It said multiple inspections in October 2025 and April 2026 had confirmed compliance with EPO conditions at the time of inspection.
"The EPA has observed that odour mitigation measures have been implemented and progressively improved, and the operator has engaged with the EPA and updated controls over time," it said.
But many in the area begged to differ, saying the smell - "like rubbish on a hot day but with a bit of something feral underneath" - had persisted.
One nearby business owner who preferred not to be named said while she loved what Goterra was doing, it should never have been licensed to operate in the area.
"I love the concept behind it - it's a supercool concept," she said.
"There's merit and creativity in the concept. But it should be out on a farm somewhere. This is an industrial precinct, I get that, but there's a very big difference.
"I don't even know that it's her [Ms Yarger's] fault, if the government has granted her a licence."
Meanwhile, she said, the smell was "just disgusting, just a vile smell". When Goterra opened its facility to its neighbours a year ago to show them what they were doing, she said she lasted five minutes before rushing outside to vomit.
Ms Yarger reiterated that she and her team had done everything they could to address the issue.
