Can't empty trash.

Today I got a message saying my start up disk needed more space. So, I decided to empty the trash. I admit it's been a while.

The empty process has been running for more than an hour. Currently it says "Preparing to empty the trash... items to delete 1,453,104. This # keeps going up. How do I empty the trash? Will this resolve the start up disk space issue? Really stuck here, thanks for the help.

Marge