We thank Wu and Criddle for their commentary and welcome this scientific dialogue. Our approach was designed to rigorously assess the potential for insect-mediated expanded polystyrene (EPS) degradation by comparing pure and commercial EPS under controlled conditions that eliminated cannibalism artifacts. Our results demonstrate that mealworms mechanically fragment EPS but achieve no genuine biochemical degradation. Pure EPS remained chemically unaffected after gut passage, while commercial EPS showed only modest additive-mediated oxidative changes, and not enzymatic polymer backbone cleavage. Additional studies on superworms (Zophobas morio) with both EPS and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) yielded corresponding results, confirming that the absence of plastic metabolism spans multiple insect species and polymer types. Here we address Wu and Criddle’s concerns regarding mass balance, isotopic interpretation, and analytical methods while demonstrating how experimental artifacts in previous studies generate false evidence for biodegradation. Simple scalability calculations reveal the fundamental impracticality of any insect-based approach: treating one ton of polystyrene would require over sixty million mealworms, producing more than four tons of dead biomass while generating vast quantities of microplastics and achieving zero meaningful degradation. Our controlled methodology establishes that insect-mediated plastic treatment is neither chemically viable nor economically feasible.