In January the Environment Protection Authority said it had received 80 complaints from residents since November and had sent inspectors to the area to do "odour surveys".

It varied Soilco's licence to require it to check its projections of odour emissions, and will require updated mitigation plans if the assumptions are out.

Soilco general manager Charlie Emery on Thursday told the Mercury he was happy to work with the EPA but there may have been other sources in the waste precinct.

Read more: Funnel-web spiders out and about after Illawarra rains

"I can't say wholeheartedly that we're not to blame - but an immediate conclusion has been drawn given the FOGO that it was wholly and solely Soilco, when you've got 2,500 tonnes of grain sitting on the ground for four to five weeks, between this precinct and the Farmborough Heights community, in quite an unusual summer where it's quite wet," he said.

"It's a long stretch just to point the finger wholly at Soilco."

At issue is how much Soilco's emissions may have changed after it started accepting Wollongong's Food Organics, Garden Organics (FOGO) collections, which includes food waste.

"Given the large shift from predominantly garden material to garden and food material, has that change in feedstock significantly affected the operations in any way?" Mr Emery said.

"It has the potential to ... [but] mums and dads in the community don't generate a lot of food. It does change in its characteristics, but it's not like it's just out of the kitchen.

"[This reassessment] is quite an extensive process because you're going around and sampling all the potential odour points, looking at the process, the people who do the measuring have what they call calibrated noses, so it's quite a scientific and technical process."

When the Mercury visited Soilco, strong rotting odours were not present, even in the processing plant.

Mr Emery said Soilco is working on a new $8 million facility so it can process 35,000 tonnes of green waste on-site (up from 15,000) instead of trucking it to Nowra.

"Long term, this means the benefits derived from the processing of FOGO will remain with the local community that diverts this material from landfill," he said.

The entire processing operation will be housed indoors in the former OneSteel pipe factory, meaning emissions and leaching liquids can be better contained.

This work, funded by the NSW Environmental Trust, started last July.

We depend on subscription revenue to support our journalism. If you are able, please subscribe here. If you are already a subscriber, thank you for your support.