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Efficient and sustainable chemical recycling pathways for plastics are vital for addressing the negative environmental impacts associated with their end-of-life management. Mechanochemical depolymerization in ball mill reactors is a new promising route to achieve solid-state conversion of polymers to monomers, without the need for additional solvents. Physics-based models that accurately describe the reactor system are necessary for process design, scaling up, and reducing energy consumption. Motivated by this, a Discrete Element Method (DEM) model is developed to investigate the ball milling process at laboratory and industrial scales. The lab-scale model is calibrated and validated with data extracted from videos using computer vision tools. Finally, scaled-up ball mill designs capable of depolymerizing varying feeds of PET waste were simulated, and their capital and operating costs are estimated to assess the economic potential of this route.