Years ago I volunteered with Free Geek in Portland (<a href="https://www.freegeek.org/shop" rel="nofollow">https://www.freegeek.org/shop</a>). They collect old technology, refurbish what they can, recycle what they can't. Working computers are given to or sold cheap to people who need a PC. They also have classes and other activities.<p>That's a small-scale example of recycling hardware that would otherwise go in the trash. I imagine programs like Free Geek exist in other cities.<p>Lots of companies and organizations offer free computer hardware recycling: Apple, Dell, Goodwill, BestBuy. I don't know how much recycling they actually do.<p>You're describing something more ambitious and labor-intensive. It costs more (in terms of labor and logistics) to recycle old or broken hardware than it does to replace it with new hardware. Breaking hardware down into reusable components or metal scrap is both labor and technology intensive (and so happens in developing-world countries).<p>Given the huge variation in hardware, peripherals, drivers, etc. I don't think you can just set up some kind of automated process to transform random hardware, possibly broken, into a working arcade machine (or a working anything). Besides the logistics and labor issues, a lot of modern hardware is designed and manufactured to prevent removing parts without destroying them, or replacing parts. Do you have the equipment to replace soldered components on modern circuit boards, and the people to run that equipment?