diff --git a/src/main/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/ApplicationProperties.java b/src/main/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/ApplicationProperties.java
index 215b2fc..2b67c71 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/ApplicationProperties.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/ApplicationProperties.java
@@ -5,7 +5,6 @@
 import org.springframework.validation.annotation.Validated;
 
 import java.util.Collection;
-import java.util.Map;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 @ConfigurationProperties("app")
@@ -39,10 +38,9 @@ public class ApplicationProperties {
     /**
      * Can be used to terminate topics even if the topic contains data
      * (destructive operation) if the topic is otherwise considered unused.
-     * The supplied properties will be matched against topic configuration,
-     * and all properties must match!
+     * By default, no topics with data will be deleted.
      */
-    private Map<String, String> nonEmptyTopicsMatchingProps;
+    private NonEmptyTopicCharacteristics nonEmptyTopics;
 
     public String getFixedRateString() {
         return fixedRateString;
@@ -68,11 +66,26 @@ public void setBlessedTopics(Collection<Pattern> blessedTopics) {
         this.blessedTopics = blessedTopics;
     }
 
-    public Map<String, String> getNonEmptyTopicsMatchingProps() {
-        return nonEmptyTopicsMatchingProps;
+    public NonEmptyTopicCharacteristics getNonEmptyTopics() {
+        return nonEmptyTopics;
     }
 
-    public void setNonEmptyTopicsMatchingProps(Map<String, String> nonEmptyTopicsMatchingProps) {
-        this.nonEmptyTopicsMatchingProps = nonEmptyTopicsMatchingProps;
+    public void setNonEmptyTopics(NonEmptyTopicCharacteristics nonEmptyTopics) {
+        this.nonEmptyTopics = nonEmptyTopics;
+    }
+
+    public static class NonEmptyTopicCharacteristics {
+        /**
+         * If set to ´true´, topics without time retention can be terminated.
+         */
+        private boolean withoutTimeRetention;
+
+        public boolean isWithoutTimeRetention() {
+            return withoutTimeRetention;
+        }
+
+        public void setWithoutTimeRetention(boolean withoutTimeRetention) {
+            this.withoutTimeRetention = withoutTimeRetention;
+        }
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/TopicTerminator.java b/src/main/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/TopicTerminator.java
index 49e6900..fe75257 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/TopicTerminator.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/TopicTerminator.java
@@ -10,6 +10,7 @@
 import io.statnett.k3a.topicterminator.strategy.ReservedIfTopicNotMatchingProps;
 import io.statnett.k3a.topicterminator.strategy.ReservedTopic;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.admin.AdminClient;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.config.TopicConfig;
 import org.slf4j.Logger;
 import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
 import org.springframework.kafka.core.KafkaAdmin;
@@ -25,6 +26,7 @@
 import java.util.concurrent.ExecutionException;
 import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
+
 @Component
 public class TopicTerminator {
     private final Logger log = LoggerFactory.getLogger(this.getClass());
@@ -47,16 +49,19 @@ public void terminateUnusedTopics() throws ExecutionException, InterruptedExcept
             .setMessage("Terminating unused topics")
             .addKeyValue("dry-run", props.isDryRun())
             .log();
+
+        ReservedTopic nonEmptyTopic = nonEmptyTopics();
+        if (props.getNonEmptyTopics().isWithoutTimeRetention()) {
+            nonEmptyTopic = and(nonEmptyTopic, reservedTopicsNotMatchingProps(
+                Map.of(TopicConfig.RETENTION_MS_CONFIG, "-1")
+            ));
+        }
+
         from(allTopics())
             .remove(internalTopics())
             .remove(blessedTopics(props.getBlessedTopics()))
             .remove(consumedTopics())
-            .remove(
-                and(
-                    nonEmptyTopics(),
-                    reservedTopicsNotMatchingProps(props.getNonEmptyTopicsMatchingProps())
-                )
-            )
+            .remove(nonEmptyTopic)
             .terminate();
     }
 
diff --git a/src/test/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/ApplicationTest.java b/src/test/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/ApplicationTest.java
index ebbb289..b83493b 100644
--- a/src/test/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/ApplicationTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/io/statnett/k3a/topicterminator/ApplicationTest.java
@@ -7,6 +7,7 @@
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.admin.AdminClient;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.admin.ListTopicsOptions;
 import org.apache.kafka.clients.admin.NewTopic;
+import org.apache.kafka.common.config.TopicConfig;
 import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
 import org.springframework.beans.factory.annotation.Autowired;
 import org.springframework.boot.test.autoconfigure.actuate.observability.AutoConfigureObservability;
@@ -35,7 +36,7 @@ public class ApplicationTest {
     public static final String TOPIC_INTERNAL = "_schemas";
     public static final String TOPIC_UNUSED = "topic-unused";
     public static final String TOPIC_WITH_DATA = "topic-with-data";
-    public static final String TOPIC_WITH_DATA_COMPACT = "topic-with-data-compact";
+    public static final String TOPIC_WITH_DATA_WITHOUT_TIME_RETENTION = "topic-with-data-without-time-retention";
     public static final String TOPIC_BLESSED_BY_REGEX = "blessed-topic";
     public static final String TOPIC_BLESSED_BY_NAME = "topic-foo";
 
@@ -55,7 +56,7 @@ public class ApplicationTest {
     void testTerminateUnusedTopics() throws Exception {
         // Put some data on topic-with-data topic
         kafkaTemplate.send(TOPIC_WITH_DATA, "foo").get();
-        kafkaTemplate.send(TOPIC_WITH_DATA_COMPACT, "key", "value").get();
+        kafkaTemplate.send(TOPIC_WITH_DATA_WITHOUT_TIME_RETENTION, "key", "value").get();
 
         // Wait until consumer is started and registered in cluster
         try (AdminClient client1 = AdminClient.create(kafkaAdmin.getConfigurationProperties())) {
@@ -71,7 +72,7 @@ void testTerminateUnusedTopics() throws Exception {
 
             assertThat(allTopics)
                 .contains(TOPIC_CONSUMED, TOPIC_INTERNAL, TOPIC_WITH_DATA, TOPIC_BLESSED_BY_REGEX, TOPIC_BLESSED_BY_NAME)
-                .doesNotContain(TOPIC_UNUSED, TOPIC_WITH_DATA_COMPACT);
+                .doesNotContain(TOPIC_UNUSED, TOPIC_WITH_DATA_WITHOUT_TIME_RETENTION);
         }
 
         // Assert delete of topic increases metrics counter
@@ -112,9 +113,9 @@ public NewTopic topicWithData() {
         }
 
         @Bean
-        public NewTopic topicWithDataCompact() {
-            return TopicBuilder.name(TOPIC_WITH_DATA_COMPACT)
-                .compact()
+        public NewTopic topicWithDataWithoutTimeRetention() {
+            return TopicBuilder.name(TOPIC_WITH_DATA_WITHOUT_TIME_RETENTION)
+                .config(TopicConfig.RETENTION_MS_CONFIG, "-1")
                 .build();
         }
 
diff --git a/src/test/resources/config/application.yaml b/src/test/resources/config/application.yaml
index 9bfb687..3527646 100644
--- a/src/test/resources/config/application.yaml
+++ b/src/test/resources/config/application.yaml
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 app:
   dry-run: false
   blessed-topics: ^blessed.*,topic-foo
-  non-empty-topics-matching-props:
-    cleanup.policy: compact
+  non-empty-topics:
+    without-time-retention: true