Hi,
Just for general info first: Your brother may be right. It actually is possible to delete the recycling bin, or more specifically the recycling bin shortcut. If you right click on the recycle bin icon two options are of interest here "Empty recycle bin" and "Delete". If you click recycle bin you win, the recycle bin is emptied. If you hit delete, which it sounds like your brother did, it deletes the icon itself. So that's why it's gone...
So getting the recycling bin back, here's how. This solution works for Vista and Windows 7:
Right click on a blank area of the desktop. You will see the option for "personalize", and mouse over and select this. On the left hand pane under the personalization menu you will see "Change desktop icons". Click on this. From here a tab will come up showing a check-box for major desktop icons. One of those icons is Recycle bin. Go ahead and check the checkbox. Click ok and the recycle bin will re-appear on the desktop.
Hope this helps,
Steve <> Microsoft Partner