If you work in warehousing, logistics, food manufacturing, agriculture, or any industry where goods are stacked and moved on pallets, you have almost certainly come across a pallet cover. They are one of those everyday industrial products that quietly do an important job without drawing much attention to themselves. But when goods arrive damaged, wet, or contaminated, the absence of a proper pallet cover becomes very obvious very quickly.
This guide covers what pallet covers are, how they work, what they are made from, and how to choose the right one for your operation. Whether you are new to pallet protection or looking to improve the way your business handles goods in storage and transit, understanding pallet covers properly will save you time, product losses, and unnecessary costs.
At Plastpack, we have been manufacturing industrial packaging products for Australian businesses since 1928. Pallet bags and pallet covers are a key part of our industrial range, and we supply them to customers across manufacturing, distribution, food processing, cold storage, agriculture, and more.
A pallet cover is a large, oversized plastic bag or sheet designed to encase a loaded pallet and protect its contents from external elements during storage, transit, or both. The cover slips over or around the stacked goods on a pallet and acts as a physical barrier against dust, moisture, rain, condensation, insects, contamination, and general handling damage.
Pallet covers are also referred to as pallet bags, pallet hoods, or pallet top sheets depending on their specific design and application. While the terms are sometimes used interchangeably, they each describe slightly different product types, which we will explain further below.
The core purpose of a pallet cover is simple: to keep goods in the condition they were in when they left your facility, right up until they arrive at their destination or are retrieved from storage. For businesses that move or store products of any kind, this is a practical necessity rather than a luxury.
Before looking at the different types of pallet covers, it is worth understanding why protecting pallets properly is so important in the first place.
Moisture is one of the most common causes of goods damage in transit and storage. Whether it is rain during outdoor loading and unloading, condensation forming on cold goods in a warm environment, or humidity in an open warehouse, moisture finds its way into unprotected goods with predictable regularity. A well-fitted pallet cover creates a waterproof barrier that keeps contents dry regardless of what happens around them.
Dust, dirt, and airborne contamination are equally problematic in many environments. In food processing and pharmaceutical facilities, contamination is not just a quality issue but a regulatory one. In dusty warehouses or outdoor storage areas, unprotected goods accumulate grime that creates problems downstream.
Goods on pallets are handled multiple times between origin and destination. They are moved by forklifts, loaded onto trucks, unloaded at distribution centres, and transferred again before reaching their final point. Every one of those transitions is an opportunity for something to go wrong. A pallet cover does not prevent every accident, but it provides a meaningful layer of protection against incidental contact, light impact, and environmental exposure throughout the journey.
In the food and pharmaceutical industries, protecting goods from contamination is not optional. Regulatory requirements govern how food products must be stored and transported, and a properly covered pallet is part of meeting those requirements. Food-grade pallet covers, which are manufactured from approved materials and are clearly identifiable, are used specifically in these environments to ensure compliance and peace of mind.
A cleanly covered pallet also says something about the business behind it. Goods arriving at a customer’s facility neatly covered in a clean, undamaged pallet bag create a better impression than goods arriving dusty, damp, or exposed. In competitive markets, attention to detail in packaging and presentation can reinforce a supplier’s reputation for care and quality.
Not all pallet covers are the same. There are several distinct product formats, and choosing the right one for your application depends on how your pallets are loaded, where they will be stored or transported, and what level of protection you need.
A pallet bag is a large, open-topped bag made from polyethylene film. The bag slips over the entire loaded pallet from the top down, encasing the goods on all four sides and the top. The open end sits at the bottom near the pallet base, where it can be tucked under or left open depending on the application.
Pallet bags are one of the most widely used pallet protection formats in Australian industry. They are quick to apply, provide all-around coverage, and are available in a range of sizes and thicknesses to suit different pallet loads. At Plastpack, our pallet bags are supplied on rolls for easy dispensing, which speeds up application in busy warehouse and production environments.
The roll format is a significant practical advantage. Rather than handling individual bags stacked flat, a worker can pull the required bag from the roll, tear or cut it off, and apply it to the pallet in a single continuous motion. This reduces the time spent on pallet covering and makes the process easier to manage in high-throughput settings.
A pallet top sheet, sometimes called a pallet cap, is a flat sheet of polyethylene film that is placed on top of a loaded pallet rather than slipped over the entire load. It protects the top of the pallet from falling debris, dust, and light moisture without enclosing the sides.
Top sheets are commonly used in combination with stretch wrap. The stretch wrap goes around the sides of the pallet to stabilise the load and provide side protection, while the top sheet covers the upper surface. This combination offers good all-round coverage and is particularly useful when the stretch wrap does not extend far enough over the top of the load to provide reliable moisture protection.
Pallet top sheets are a cost-effective option when full bag coverage is not required or when the goods are already well protected on the sides. Plastpack stocks pallet top sheets as part of our industrial product range, available in a range of dimensions to suit standard pallet configurations.
Gusseted pallet bags have folded side panels built into the film, which allow the bag to expand outward when applied to a pallet. This design accommodates loads that are wider or less uniform in shape than a standard square pallet. The gusset panels fold flat when the bag is stored on a roll but open out when the bag is placed over a loaded pallet, providing a closer and more even fit around the sides of the load.
For businesses handling a variety of pallet sizes or irregularly shaped loads, gusseted bags offer more flexibility than flat pallet bags without requiring multiple different bag sizes.
Food-grade pallet bags are manufactured from polyethylene that has been specifically approved for contact with food products. They are used to line pallet bins, protect food ingredients during storage, or cover finished food products during transit. In most cases, food-grade bags are blue in colour, which makes them easily distinguishable from general-purpose bags and reduces the risk of confusion in food-handling environments.
At Plastpack, our blue pallet bags are food-grade and suitable for internally lining pallet bins in food processing and distribution settings. The blue colouring also makes them more visible if a fragment were ever to be present in a product, which is an important consideration for food safety management systems.
Learn more: https://www.plasticbags.com.au/what-is-a-pallet-cover/
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