diff --git a/changelog/unreleased/empty-trash-dirs.md b/changelog/unreleased/empty-trash-dirs.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..89c5f54b51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/unreleased/empty-trash-dirs.md
@@ -0,0 +1,7 @@
+Enhancement: Empty trash directories
+
+We have added a cli-command that allows cleaning up empty directories in the trashbins folder structure in decomposedFS.
+
+https://github.com/owncloud/ocis/pull/9483
+https://github.com/owncloud/ocis/issues/9393
+https://github.com/owncloud/ocis/issues/9271
diff --git a/ocis/pkg/command/trash.go b/ocis/pkg/command/trash.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a68b66e6d0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ocis/pkg/command/trash.go
@@ -0,0 +1,67 @@
+package command
+
+import (
+	"fmt"
+	"github.com/owncloud/ocis/v2/ocis/pkg/trash"
+
+	"github.com/owncloud/ocis/v2/ocis-pkg/config"
+	"github.com/owncloud/ocis/v2/ocis-pkg/config/configlog"
+	"github.com/owncloud/ocis/v2/ocis-pkg/config/parser"
+	"github.com/owncloud/ocis/v2/ocis/pkg/register"
+	"github.com/urfave/cli/v2"
+)
+
+func TrashCommand(cfg *config.Config) *cli.Command {
+	return &cli.Command{
+		Name:  "trash",
+		Usage: "ocis trash functionality",
+		Subcommands: []*cli.Command{
+			TrashPurgeEmptyDirsCommand(cfg),
+		},
+		Before: func(c *cli.Context) error {
+			return configlog.ReturnError(parser.ParseConfig(cfg, true))
+		},
+		Action: func(_ *cli.Context) error {
+			fmt.Println("Read the docs")
+			return nil
+		},
+	}
+}
+
+func TrashPurgeEmptyDirsCommand(cfg *config.Config) *cli.Command {
+	return &cli.Command{
+		Name:  "purge-empty-dirs",
+		Usage: "purge empty directories",
+		Flags: []cli.Flag{
+			&cli.StringFlag{
+				Name:     "basepath",
+				Aliases:  []string{"p"},
+				Usage:    "the basepath of the decomposedfs (e.g. /var/tmp/ocis/storage/users)",
+				Required: true,
+			},
+			&cli.BoolFlag{
+				Name:  "dry-run",
+				Usage: "do not delete anything, just print what would be deleted",
+				Value: true,
+			},
+		},
+		Action: func(c *cli.Context) error {
+			basePath := c.String("basepath")
+			if basePath == "" {
+				fmt.Println("basepath is required")
+				return cli.ShowCommandHelp(c, "trash")
+			}
+
+			if err := trash.PurgeTrashEmptyPaths(basePath, c.Bool("dry-run")); err != nil {
+				fmt.Println(err)
+				return err
+			}
+
+			return nil
+		},
+	}
+}
+
+func init() {
+	register.AddCommand(TrashCommand)
+}
diff --git a/ocis/pkg/trash/trash.go b/ocis/pkg/trash/trash.go
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..985960c06e
--- /dev/null
+++ b/ocis/pkg/trash/trash.go
@@ -0,0 +1,57 @@
+package trash
+
+import (
+	"errors"
+	"fmt"
+	"os"
+	"path/filepath"
+)
+
+const (
+	// _trashGlobPattern is the glob pattern to find all trash items
+	_trashGlobPattern = "storage/users/spaces/*/*/trash/*/*/*/*"
+)
+
+// PurgeTrashEmptyPaths purges empty paths in the trash
+func PurgeTrashEmptyPaths(p string, dryRun bool) error {
+	// we have all trash nodes in all spaces now
+	dirs, err := filepath.Glob(filepath.Join(p, _trashGlobPattern))
+	if err != nil {
+		return err
+	}
+
+	if len(dirs) == 0 {
+		return errors.New("no trash found. Double check storage path")
+	}
+
+	for _, d := range dirs {
+		if err := removeEmptyFolder(d, dryRun); err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+	}
+	return nil
+}
+
+func removeEmptyFolder(path string, dryRun bool) error {
+	if dryRun {
+		f, err := os.ReadDir(path)
+		if err != nil {
+			return err
+		}
+		if len(f) < 1 {
+			fmt.Println("would remove", path)
+		}
+		return nil
+	}
+	if err := os.Remove(path); err != nil {
+		// we do not really care about the error here
+		// if the folder is not empty we will get an error,
+		// this is our signal to break out of the recursion
+		return nil
+	}
+	nd := filepath.Dir(path)
+	if filepath.Base(nd) == "trash" {
+		return nil
+	}
+	return removeEmptyFolder(nd, dryRun)
+}