How do I force the Trash to empty on El Captan?

Prior to El Capitan, it was possible to force emptying of the Trash when stubborn or "in use" items prevented it with "Secure Empty Trash". This option has however been removed in El Capitan.

How do I force the Trash to empty on El Capitan?

Solution 1:

If you select an item or items and click on the “File” menu, there’s a “Move to Trash” choice; however, if you hold down the Option key with that “File” menu open, “Move to Trash” will switch to “Delete Immediately....”

This also works with files already in the Trash.

Solution 2:

You can use 'rm' with the '-f' option:

sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash /Volumes/*/.Trashes

^{Be very careful if you manually type this in.}

This empties the trash in your home folder and any trash on any other mounted partitions.