Maybe it costs more but I'm not sure in the long run it will, if it can be brought down to just upgrading parts of a system it will be cheaper to maintain. Also governments are starting to look for the green alternative so it could in fact offset costs. It's a big idea I don't even know where or how to start but I know that on the current state of things it would take hold.
Logistics. Collecting, storing, and distributing — all labor-intensive and expensive at scale — will turn into the biggest costs. Unless recycling happens at scale it doesn’t make a big enough difference.
I'm going to humor you, and give you the "Elon Musk" solution here. Take it, leave it or run with it, I couldn't care less.
- Start small, establish yourself on a site like Etsy and sell directly to the consumer. You cannot scale this up until you prove that it's possible to turn dead electronics into consoles quickly, efficiently, and cheaply.
- Focus on a single hardware architecture. x86 would be the easiest, as it gives you a super-solid base for running Linux and all of it's trappings, as well as a huge range of computers to pick from (2005-present day).
- Automate your software solution early. Make sure that your entire install process takes minimal interaction, this will be crucial for your scaling. Write a bash script to automate the installation of Linux and all of your emulation software.
If you can figure that out, you might have a cute home business and a fun alternative revenue source. Saving the planet though? Every little bit counts, but you're hardly saving the Earth by turning trash into slightly more fun trash. You'd hardly even be competing against other manufacturers, and they'd simply continue to pump out consoles faster than you can transform computers. If you want sustainability, go for the high-end market and drive insane margins with fancy wooden cabs. If you want to make a difference, you're going to need to optimize your manufacturing process to an impossible level of efficiency. I say this as someone who has home-made several arcade cabs at this point: I simply don't see a project like this making an impact. But it's your time, so feel free to chase it.
Oh, I'm definitely not coming at this from a save-the-earth perspective. Like I said, this is a fun side hobby at best, definitely not some eco-warrior type deal.
You could come at this from a save the earth perspective though it's actually kind of possible if you establish your recycling depos in their respective countries. The arcade machine part does not scale that is more to get a proof of concept off the ground you then expand into a limited product line, arcade for gaming, computers for gaming I guess and business, cell phones, you could do audio and other tec but you make a solid product that last a long long time and only requires you replace parts of the system which is where you could make money. Think about if there is heaps and heaps of tec that gets dumped into land full as waste you are taking that waste and using parts to make a renew able tec line that does not break down. The reason why it's not done now is that people want to make money so maybe you rent this or something but it will and would work. It could majorly cut down on consumption the game aspect is just to prove it works.
It sounds like you're not very well-acquainted with the logistics of this scenario, which is fine: like I said, you could very well do this if it's something you care about, and nobody would bat an eye. Doing this to save the environment is totally the wrong reason though, especially in the long-term.
Consider the following: you can run an SNES emulator off a 45-watt laptop from 2009, but you could also run the same software on a 1.2-watt Raspberry Pi. That's a 10-50x reduction in power consumption, which is hugely significant when it comes to reducing energy use. Conversely, we could take that same 45-watt laptop and melt down it's component parts, stripping it for the trace amounts of copper, aluminium and gold it contains, and turn it into 5 Raspberry Pis. I'm all-for reusing older equipment, but the overwhelming majority of trashed tech is not worth saving.
I really recommend doing your research before you hop into a project like this. I've worked on engineering teams with 20-30 people before, and I can tell you right now that managing your expectations is crucial for a project of this scale. Like I said earlier, you'd only really be turning trash into slightly more useful trash. Unless you've got some hard numbers here that I've somehow missed, I've got a hard time seeing how you'd put this together.