The 4C Circularity Nexus: An Exploratory Circulus Valor Framework for Food Waste Recycling and Value Retention in Circular Food Systems

Food waste represents not only a material and environmental problem, but also a loss of economic, social, and environmental value embedded throughout the food system. This study proposes the Circulus Valor framework as an exploratory conceptual perspective that integrates Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, and Communication into the discussion of food waste recycling and value retention. The 20-item questionnaire was organized into four a priori conceptual domains and underwent expert review by seven specialists and pilot testing with 60 participants. The pilot instrument showed satisfactory preliminary internal consistency (overall α = 0.927; domain-level α = 0.814–0.881), with corrected item–total correlations ranging from 0.41 to 0.74. The main analysis was based on 711 valid responses, including 101 respondents affiliated with the Romanian Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. The pooled 20-item set showed high internal consistency (α = 0.954). Creativity recorded the highest mean score (3.37), followed by Critical Thinking (3.33), Collaboration (3.19), and Communication (2.92), while the author-defined 4C Index was 3.20. Inter-domain correlations ranged from 0.63 to 0.77, indicating substantial positive association and overlap, but not factorial distinctiveness. The Circulus Valor Score (CVS = 0.64) is reported as an exploratory descriptive summary of balance among the four domain scores. The findings are perception-based and do not validate a four-factor scale, establish discriminant validity, or demonstrate causal relationships with objective food waste or value-retention outcomes.