Abstract: Nature has always been efficient at saving energy and preventing waste. A good example of the thriftiness of nature is the recycling of receptors that mediate the transport of hydrolases to the lysosome in animal cells or to the vacuole in plants and fungi. By actively recycling these receptors, they are saved from degradation in the 'garbage can' of the cell - the lysosome or vacuole. Until recently, this process has been relatively poorly understood. Now, through a fusion of yeast genetics and mammalian cell biology, new insights have been gained into the molecular mechanisms that underlie the endosome-to-Golgi membrane-trafficking pathway.