diff --git a/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go b/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
index 78b2d2c1394..45889f0b68f 100644
--- a/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
+++ b/cmd/kubelet/app/server.go
@@ -201,6 +201,7 @@ is checked every 20 seconds (also configurable with a flag).`,
 
 			if cleanFlagSet.Changed("pod-infra-container-image") {
 				klog.InfoS("--pod-infra-container-image will not be pruned by the image garbage collector in kubelet and should also be set in the remote runtime")
+				_ = cmd.Flags().MarkDeprecated("pod-infra-container-image", "--pod-infra-container-image will be removed in 1.30. Image garbage collector will get sandbox image information from CRI.")
 			}
 
 			// load kubelet config file, if provided
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/images/image_gc_manager.go b/pkg/kubelet/images/image_gc_manager.go
index 451dfb08390..52aa0d0ceea 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/images/image_gc_manager.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/images/image_gc_manager.go
@@ -106,9 +106,6 @@ type realImageGCManager struct {
 	// imageCache is the cache of latest image list.
 	imageCache imageCache
 
-	// sandbox image exempted from GC
-	sandboxImage string
-
 	// tracer for recording spans
 	tracer trace.Tracer
 }
@@ -160,7 +157,7 @@ type imageRecord struct {
 }
 
 // NewImageGCManager instantiates a new ImageGCManager object.
-func NewImageGCManager(runtime container.Runtime, statsProvider StatsProvider, recorder record.EventRecorder, nodeRef *v1.ObjectReference, policy ImageGCPolicy, sandboxImage string, tracerProvider trace.TracerProvider) (ImageGCManager, error) {
+func NewImageGCManager(runtime container.Runtime, statsProvider StatsProvider, recorder record.EventRecorder, nodeRef *v1.ObjectReference, policy ImageGCPolicy, tracerProvider trace.TracerProvider) (ImageGCManager, error) {
 	// Validate policy.
 	if policy.HighThresholdPercent < 0 || policy.HighThresholdPercent > 100 {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("invalid HighThresholdPercent %d, must be in range [0-100]", policy.HighThresholdPercent)
@@ -180,7 +177,6 @@ func NewImageGCManager(runtime container.Runtime, statsProvider StatsProvider, r
 		recorder:      recorder,
 		nodeRef:       nodeRef,
 		initialized:   false,
-		sandboxImage:  sandboxImage,
 		tracer:        tracer,
 	}
 
@@ -223,12 +219,6 @@ func (im *realImageGCManager) GetImageList() ([]container.Image, error) {
 func (im *realImageGCManager) detectImages(ctx context.Context, detectTime time.Time) (sets.String, error) {
 	imagesInUse := sets.NewString()
 
-	// Always consider the container runtime pod sandbox image in use
-	imageRef, err := im.runtime.GetImageRef(ctx, container.ImageSpec{Image: im.sandboxImage})
-	if err == nil && imageRef != "" {
-		imagesInUse.Insert(imageRef)
-	}
-
 	images, err := im.runtime.ListImages(ctx)
 	if err != nil {
 		return imagesInUse, err
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/images/image_gc_manager_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/images/image_gc_manager_test.go
index 2bb6061a125..a6844cdc798 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/images/image_gc_manager_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/images/image_gc_manager_test.go
@@ -48,7 +48,6 @@ func newRealImageGCManager(policy ImageGCPolicy, mockStatsProvider stats.Provide
 		imageRecords:  make(map[string]*imageRecord),
 		statsProvider: mockStatsProvider,
 		recorder:      &record.FakeRecorder{},
-		sandboxImage:  sandboxImage,
 		tracer:        oteltrace.NewNoopTracerProvider().Tracer(""),
 	}, fakeRuntime
 }
@@ -202,8 +201,9 @@ func TestDeleteUnusedImagesExemptSandboxImage(t *testing.T) {
 	manager, fakeRuntime := newRealImageGCManager(ImageGCPolicy{}, mockStatsProvider)
 	fakeRuntime.ImageList = []container.Image{
 		{
-			ID:   sandboxImage,
-			Size: 1024,
+			ID:     sandboxImage,
+			Size:   1024,
+			Pinned: true,
 		},
 	}
 
@@ -233,7 +233,7 @@ func TestDeletePinnedImage(t *testing.T) {
 
 	err := manager.DeleteUnusedImages(ctx)
 	assert := assert.New(t)
-	assert.Len(fakeRuntime.ImageList, 2)
+	assert.Len(fakeRuntime.ImageList, 1)
 	require.NoError(t, err)
 }
 
@@ -719,7 +719,7 @@ func TestValidateImageGCPolicy(t *testing.T) {
 	}
 
 	for _, tc := range testCases {
-		if _, err := NewImageGCManager(nil, nil, nil, nil, tc.imageGCPolicy, "", oteltrace.NewNoopTracerProvider()); err != nil {
+		if _, err := NewImageGCManager(nil, nil, nil, nil, tc.imageGCPolicy, oteltrace.NewNoopTracerProvider()); err != nil {
 			if err.Error() != tc.expectErr {
 				t.Errorf("[%s:]Expected err:%v, but got:%v", tc.name, tc.expectErr, err.Error())
 			}
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
index c7a4ad94842..c8708c0520d 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet.go
@@ -747,7 +747,7 @@ func NewMainKubelet(kubeCfg *kubeletconfiginternal.KubeletConfiguration,
 	klet.containerDeletor = newPodContainerDeletor(klet.containerRuntime, integer.IntMax(containerGCPolicy.MaxPerPodContainer, minDeadContainerInPod))
 
 	// setup imageManager
-	imageManager, err := images.NewImageGCManager(klet.containerRuntime, klet.StatsProvider, kubeDeps.Recorder, nodeRef, imageGCPolicy, crOptions.PodSandboxImage, kubeDeps.TracerProvider)
+	imageManager, err := images.NewImageGCManager(klet.containerRuntime, klet.StatsProvider, kubeDeps.Recorder, nodeRef, imageGCPolicy, kubeDeps.TracerProvider)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, fmt.Errorf("failed to initialize image manager: %v", err)
 	}
diff --git a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go
index 1b83b320c00..18f225aade5 100644
--- a/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go
+++ b/pkg/kubelet/kubelet_test.go
@@ -311,7 +311,7 @@ func newTestKubeletWithImageList(
 		HighThresholdPercent: 90,
 		LowThresholdPercent:  80,
 	}
-	imageGCManager, err := images.NewImageGCManager(fakeRuntime, kubelet.StatsProvider, fakeRecorder, fakeNodeRef, fakeImageGCPolicy, "", oteltrace.NewNoopTracerProvider())
+	imageGCManager, err := images.NewImageGCManager(fakeRuntime, kubelet.StatsProvider, fakeRecorder, fakeNodeRef, fakeImageGCPolicy, oteltrace.NewNoopTracerProvider())
 	assert.NoError(t, err)
 	kubelet.imageManager = &fakeImageGCManager{
 		fakeImageService: fakeRuntime,