I always used to think that reuse and recycle were basically the same thing. I read an article, though, that really clarified the difference between the two for me. When an item is recycled, it is reprocessed into a raw material. Recycling, while far better than just throwing things out, still creates a bit of pollution. When we reuse something, we are extending the life of an item to get the maximum amount of use we can from the energy used to create that item. This is a better option than recycling because there's no reprocessing necessary which means there's less pollution being created.

Link: http://www.thereusepeople.org/content/reuse-vs-recycle