As far as I can tell, the recycle bin was an attempt to emulate the trash can in the Macintosh UI. The difference was that, like so many other things (and this is coming from a life long Windows user, not an Apple fanatic), Microsoft did it badly where Apple did it well.
It's hard to pinpoint exactly what the difference is, but in Windows it just doesn't seem to make sense. It just looks like any other desktop icon, whereas in the Macintosh it clearly has a special purpose. Possibly because it's always there at the bottom right hand side of the screen (where it seems like it should be, don't ask me why), whereas Windows just moves it around as it sees fit.
So no, I don't see anything wrong at all with the poster's policy of removing it from the desktop. Anything that removes a possible source of confusion for users is a good thing in my book.