The current ever-growing tech- and resource- savvy society has led to the rapid expansion and need for industrial development, which generates unprecedented waste amounts on a daily basis. On a circular economy perspective, waste should be as much as possible prevented, following a hierarchy of strategies to avoid the end-of-life stage. Nevertheless, when no other option is available, waste-to-energy (WtE) techniques constitute a possible approach to convert residues into energy, within more energy-efficient processes to emit less or no CO₂. These entail an alternative to landfilling (last option in the waste hierarchy), aiming to recover the energy present in the debris in order for them to be seen as resources again, contributing to a more sustainable and resilient society. Despite this, waste management has always been seen as an issue for the neighboring populations due to many aspects such as potential health problems, smell, noise, aesthetic of the treatment sites, landscape barriers and general social discomfort. This work proposes a literature review on the social assessments conducted for the thermal conversion of wastes so far, in order to display the knowledge gaps in this thematic, enabling a proper evaluation of the actual context for such a controversial topic. Also, a sensitivity analysis for the most concerning variables, comparing different scenarios and set of conditions, would potentially contribute to decision-making and policy-support to promote an approach more focused on the social perspective, as an integration with other aspects, namely environmental, economic and technical features.