Windows Server 2019 Cannot empty recycle bin

Question

I have a server with 16GB Ram and 400GB HD space. 2.2 million text files where deleted which all went into the recycle bin. Now we cannot empty the recycle bin. If I open it, it just hangs while calculating the number of files and space. as it does this its slowly eating up memory until it uses all memory and the server crashes. right click>empty on recycle bin seems to do nothing and neither does the powershell comment Clear-RecycleBin using the force parameter.

any idea how I can clear the recycle bin and not eat up all the memory?

Thanks.