Recycling: say I’m sorry about Victor’s going west (7)
I believe the answer is:
salvage
'recycling' is the definition.
'say i'm sorry about victor's going west' is the wordplay.
'say' becomes 'eg'.
'i'm sorry' becomes 'alas' (both are expressions of sorrow).
'about' is an insertion indicator.
'victor' becomes 'v' (phonetic alphabet: alpha, bravo, charlie etc.).
'going west' is a reversal indicator.
'eg'+'alas'='egalas'
'egalas' enclosing 'v' is 'egavlas'.
'egavlas' reversed gives 'SALVAGE'.
(Other definitions for salvage that I've seen before include "Rescue of property as from fire or flood" , "Rescue of property from peril" , "Restore" , "Rescue a wrecked ship at sea" , "Recovery of wrecks" .)