I had this exact same problem, filed it here: https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/gnome-applets/+bug/35834 and it went away on March 27.
In case it's of any help: I used both nautilus trash and the panel trash icon: they would show consistent (but erroneous) in formation. I mostly deleted stuff with the delete key but right-click>move to trash and drag&drop to trash gave the same results. I use ext3 fs -- Trash always empty. https://launchpad.net/malone/bugs/34247 -- desktop-bugs mailing list desktop-bugs@lists.ubuntu.com https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/desktop-bugs
