To solve the problem that a gap exists between a manufacturer of a product and a user who does not want to recycle a cartridge with a large amount of information remaining automatically written in a storage area inaccessible by the user.

Nonvolatile memory is provided with a first memory area for storing information associated with the cartridge, and a second memory area for storing information associated with the status of the use of an image forming apparatus; the first memory area is made read-only on the user's side, and made readable/writable on the side of the image forming apparatus; and the second memory area is made readable/writable on both the user's side and the side of the image forming apparatus. Thus, in the formation of an image, the necessary information can be collected; the user can grasp the stored information in the memory; and the information associated with the user can be deleted.