Reply to the ‘Comment on “Expanded polystyrene is not chemically degraded by mealworms”’ by W.-M. Wu and C. S. Criddle, <i>RSC Sustainability</i> , 2026, <b>4</b> , DOI: 10.1039/D5SU00247H

EPS ingestion ≠ biodegradation: mealworms and superworms fed pure or commercial EPS die faster than starvation controls, shed only frass + microplastics, and leave the polymer’s chemical structure unchanged and unassimilated.

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Publication Details

Journal
RSC Sustainability
Published
2025-11-21
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1039/d5su00725a
Primary Topic
Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
0.00

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article

Reply to the ‘Comment on “Expanded polystyrene is not chemically degraded by mealworms”’ by W.-M. Wu and C. S. Criddle, RSC Sustainability , 2026, 4 , DOI: 10.1039/D5SU00247H

RSC Sustainability
Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
article

Reply to the ‘Comment on “Expanded polystyrene is not chemically degraded by mealworms”’ by W.-M. Wu and C. S. Criddle, RSC Sustainability , 2026, 4 , DOI: 10.1039/D5SU00247H

article en

Abstract

EPS ingestion ≠ biodegradation: mealworms and superworms fed pure or commercial EPS die faster than starvation controls, shed only frass + microplastics, and leave the polymer’s chemical structure unchanged and unassimilated.

RSC SustainabilityVol. 4(1)
The University of Western Australia (AU), Woodside (Australia) (AU)
Woodside
Responsible consumption and production
Openalex Percentile: Top 56%
Microplastics and Plastic Pollution
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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Reply to the ‘Comment on “Expanded polystyrene is not chemically degraded by mealworms”’ by W.-M. Wu and C. S. Criddle, <i>RSC Sustainability</i> , 2026, <b>4</b> , DOI: 10.1039/D5SU00247H · RSC Sustainability (2025) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS