Rubbish emptied in English river (5)
I believe the answer is:
rhine
'river' is the definition.
(I know that Rhine is a river)
'rubbish emptied in english' is the wordplay.
'emptied' suggests removing the centre.
'english' becomes 'E' (abbreviation).
'rubbish' with its centre taken out is 'rh'.
'rh'+'in'+'e'='RHINE'
(Other definitions for rhine that I've seen before include "water" , "Major European river" , "River, rising in Switzerland and flowing into the North Sea" , "Great river that flows through Germany" , "River at Bonn, Koln" .)