Yes you can.
Open the "Trash", select the item you want to delete and click the "Delete" (red circle with slash) icon in the toolbar.
It may not be on the toolbar by default, you can add it through the "View" menu item "Customize Toolbar "
(Worked on Snow Leopard, 10.6, not on Tiger, 10.4. I don't have Leopard, 10.5, or Lion, 10.7, at hand to test.)
Are you sure? Deleting a file from the Trash window should send the file back to the folder where it came. Please check the original folder and see if the file has returned there.
Thanks. I’ve been using Macs since the beginning and never knew you could do that.