Friend left without recycling bin, creating flipping diversion (7)
I believe the answer is:
pinball
'diversion' is the definition.
(pinball is a kind of diversion)
'friend left without recycling bin' is the wordplay.
'friend left' becomes 'pall' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'without' means one lot of letters goes inside another ('without' can be similar in meaning to 'outside').
'recycling' is an anagram indicator.
'bin' is an anagram of 'inb'.
'pall' going around 'inb' is 'PINBALL'.
'creating flipping' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for pinball that I've seen before include "Arcade game where a metal sphere negotiates hazards" , "Slot machine bagatelle" , "Game involving an enclosed table, played by operating flippers" , "It may require tilting when played" , "Slot-machine game" .)