Patent ID: 8068750

Claim:
An image forming apparatus comprising: a cleaning portion for collecting waste toner, which is the toner that was supplied to form a toner image on a toner image bearer but has not transferred to the recording medium and remains on the toner image bearer after the transfer stage; a waste toner discharger for discharging the waste toner collected by the cleaning portion; a waste toner collecting container; and a detector, characterized in that the waste toner collecting container includes: a waste toner receptacle for storing the waste toner discharged from the waste toner discharger, wherein a supporting portion for supporting the waste toner receptacle by elastic force is integrally formed with the bottom of the waste toner receptacle; a waste toner collector for leading the waste toner collected by the cleaning portion into the waste toner receptacle; and a joint for coupling the waste toner collector and the waste toner receptacle, the waste toner collecting container is removably mounted to the image forming apparatus; the joint has the function of extending and contracting itself to enable the waste toner receptacle to shift relative to the waste toner collector; and the detector, when the waste toner receptacle has moved due the weight of the collected waste toner in the waste toner receptacle, detects the waste toner receptacle that has moved.