Simple SQL script to delete the recycle bin rows from the Sitecore Archive tables. Use it at your own risk!

SitecoreEmptyRecycleBin.sql

declare @CleanupList table(ArchivalId uniqueidentifier)
declare @ArchivalId uniqueidentifier
insert into @CleanupList(ArchivalId) 
	select ArchivalId
	from dbo.Archive
	where ArchiveName = 'recyclebin'
while(1 = 1)
begin
    set @ArchivalId = NULL
    select top (1) @ArchivalId = ArchivalId
    from @CleanupList
    if @ArchivalId IS NULL
        break
	delete from dbo.ArchivedFields where ArchivalId = @ArchivalId
	delete from dbo.ArchivedItems where ArchivalId = @ArchivalId
	delete from dbo.ArchivedVersions where ArchivalId = @ArchivalId
	delete from dbo.Archive where ArchivalId = @ArchivalId
    delete top(1) from @CleanupList
end

Thank you @ezlateva

I have a question. What about Blobs table? Whey looking at "Query Performance Insight" I see the following queries being very heavy:

Query 1:

(@archiveName nvarchar(10))DELETE FROM [Blobs] WHERE [BlobId] IN ( SELECT [Blobs].[BlobId] FROM [ArchivedFields], [Blobs] WHERE [ArchivalId] IN (SELECT [ArchivalId] FROM [Archive] WHERE [ArchiveName] = @archiveName AND [Value] LIKE [Blobs].[BlobId]))

Query 2

(@archivalId uniqueidentifier)DELETE FROM [Blobs] WHERE CONVERT(nvarchar(36), [BlobId]) IN (SELECT [Blobs].[BlobId] FROM [ArchivedFields], [Blobs] WHERE [ArchivalId] = @archivalId AND [Value] LIKE [Blobs].[BlobId])

(In my case, empty Recycle Bin button click caused timeout, and first query is the one bein mentioned).

I am just wondering - if I delete Archival entries, would not orphaned blobs still hang around and take space (for recycled image items I presume)

@sansani4 The cleanup database option in administration tools is what removes orphaned blobs from the blob table. :)

Database and Operations --> Database Cleanup

Thank you so much!!! I see it!