We present an efficient chemical recycling/depolymerization route that is suitable for recycled polyethylene terephthalate (r-PET). The use of melt pretreatment drastically decreased the time required for the depolymerization of PET due to a reduction in the melting temperature of pretreated r-PET, increase in the molecular weight distributions of r-PET, as well as the occurrence of depolymerization both on the surface and in the bulk of r-PET. In addition, a low-cost environmentally benign zinc 2-ethyl hexanoate catalyst is used for the chemical recycling of PET. Energy calculations showed at least 8-fold reduction in the energy requirement for the depolymerization of melt-treated PET compared to the untreated PET. This study demonstrates establishing melt-pretreatment as an efficient chemical recycling approach for r-PET as compared to conventional chemical recycling without melt-pretreatment. As PET is produced in enormous amounts, the work demonstrated here can divert multi-million tons/year of waste PET bottles into valuable feedstock, thus conserving resources.