I often see on the root directory of a drive: Recycler (a folder) Recycled
I'd like to have only one of them show up (ideally just the Recycled Icon)
The "Recycler" folder only shows up when the "Hide protected operating system files" Folder Option is disabled, so by enabling it again, the folder should be hidden again:
(screenshot taken from here)
It comes under the option (Tools > Folder Options) "Hide protected operating system files (Recommended)"
If you disable the tick box to show everything, this is one of the side effects. If you do not work on system files, then re tick this box and you should get just one.
If I understand your question correctly, look into TweakUI from Microsoft PowerToys.
It has a number of Power-User oriented tweaks and changes, and hiding icons is one of them.