by Editorial Board, The Oregonian

Sometimes a statistic from somewhere else strays across our desks, and triggers an "Aha" moment. It provides a comparison, and a sudden illumination, of Oregon's land-use system.

We had one of those moments recently when we learned that Houston recycles only 2.6 percent of its waste -- a figure so shockingly low we did a double take. Portland's recyling rate is 63 percent, and it aims to reach 75 percent by 2015.

There are a heap of reasons for the huge discrepancy. But one big one is that Houston, famous for rejecting zoning, specializes in dumb growth. As a result, the city sprawls so much that trucks must travel long distances to collect recyclables, and the distances jack up the cost of collections. People want to do the right thing, but it's hard to make the right thing pay off.

The market is at odds with their impulses.

Oregon, by encouraging compact growth, helps to keep a lid on the costs of all its municipal services. Unfortunately, the report that thoroughly illuminates the efficiencies -- and cost savings -- of our land-use system has yet to be written.

That's not to take the Big Look Task Force to task. The group is now finishing up an extremely important report on the system. Even if it had had more time to do its work, it might not have been able to provide the kind of economic comparisons that we're talking about.

The task force has done a very good job, given the time crunch it is operating under. It must wrap up its Big Look report to hand it to the Oregon Legislature for the 2009 session.

Still, we wish that, going into the session, Oregonians had a better feel for the lower costs and assorted other economic benefits they enjoy, because of the land-use system.

Smart growth? As the recession deepens, economic trends darken and costs of services go up, smart growth is only going to look smarter by the minute.