Remember that old file cabinet abandoned months ago with nowhere to go? And last season's computer, traded for a newer model? What about the old department utility vehicle, sitting forlornly in the parking lot?

Chances are someone would gratefully put such castoffs to good use ... if only they knew about them. But with no systematic way of matching donors with recipients, perfectly serviceable assets have had nowhere to go.

Now, in a new initiative to reduce waste on campus, Cornell's Division of Financial Services has launched a Web forum where departments with assets to sell can connect with others who can use them.

The Cornell Asset Transfer System (CATS) at http://cats.dfa.cornell.edu is not a general marketplace for buying or selling personal goods; it's only intended for staff and faculty to sell university assets within the university. Within the university, though, almost anything applies: from computers and fume hoods to farm equipment and toner cartridges.

Stephen Hamilton, associate provost for outreach and professor of human development at Cornell, was one of the system's planners. Without a formal structure for distributing unused assets, he said, "people who had a connection had access to these things, and those who didn't did not."

To level the playing field, Hamilton worked with Keith Boncek, associate director for information technologies for the Division of Administration, Facilities and Finance. "We brainstormed it from the ground up," said Boncek. Rich McDaniel, vice president for business services and environmental safety, raised money for the project, while a programmer from Cornell Information Technologies developed the site. And for a touch of the whimsical, Boncek and his colleagues contributed pictures of their cats to grace the site's home page.

Walt Smithers, solid waste manager for Cornell, said a significant chunk of the university's annual waste comes from discarded electronics. "We pick up a wide range of equipment, from antiquated Macs to supercomputers," he said. In 2004 Cornell disposed of 104 tons of electronic equipment. "But we're not computer experts. Our concern is environmentally safe disposal. But we don't know what works and what doesn't."

Smithers hopes the system will route more computers to people who can use them -- rather than to his facilities. And it seems to be working. A day after CATS was launched on Feb. 1, it featured 43 listings, many of them computers and monitors. "We've gotten really positive feedback," said Boncek.

Items listed in CATS are not yet available to outside organizations. But Boncek's department is working to create a way for local schools and nonprofit organizations to access the site -- possibly later this spring. In the meantime, agencies seeking donations must work through Cornell's Office of Community Relations.

Hamilton said that CATS should prevent much of Cornell's surplus property from being thrown out. "I hope that organizations that will use CATS will feel as though Cornell cares about them and is trying to be supportive," he added.

"The recycling of these things is the socially responsible thing to do," said McDaniel. We don't want to be filling up landfills with surplus assets. It's about people who have needs being connected with people who have a surplus. When that happens, both win."