Toner is removed from the surface of a drum coated with a photo-sensitive material by bringing a cleaning blade into contact with the surface when the drum is stationary, rotating the drum at a monotonically increasing rate of speed until a predetermined rotational speed is reached, monotonically increasing the contact pressure exerted by the blade against the drum surface while the drum speed is being increased so that the contact pressure reaches a maximum contact pressure when the drum reaches the predetermined rotational speed, and maintaining the maximum contact pressure while the drum continues rotating at the predetermined rotational speed.