The Department of Environmental Protection awarded grants last week to 56 small businesses, including five in the midstate, for energy-efficiency or pollution-control projects.

The awards, which totaled $418,049, were made through the state's Small Business Advantage Grant Program, the department said in a statement.

The program provides companies with 100 or fewer employees with 50 percent matching grants up to $9,500 for projects that reduce energy or pollution-prevention costs by at least 25 percent. It is funded through the Hazardous Sites Cleanup Act.

The midstate's recipients were as follows:

Cumberland County

• R.D.S. Transport, headquartered in Altoona, project in Silver Spring Township: $5,400

• Quality Cleaners Inc., Lemoyne: $9,500

Lancaster County

• Abel Tire Inc., Quarryville: $3,747

• Hendricks' Flowers, Lititz: $9,500

The grants will leverage $1.5 million of private investment, DEP said. A second set of grant awards is pending; in all, the program will award $1 million this fiscal year, DEP said.