Abstract: Wate asbestos is converted into a glass by maintaining within an electrical glass melting furnace a body of molten glass at a temperature above the decomposition temperature of asbestos; supplying asbestos to the furnace by a conveyor discharging above the body of molten glass so that the asbestos falls onto the molten glass and becomes decomposed and melted into glass; and withdrawing molten glass from the furnace at a temperature of at least 1000.degree. C. The asbestos is advantageously mixed with cullet and a melt accelerator and fed into the furnace by means of a screw mixer/conveyor. The furnace is advantageously operated at a pressure less than atmospheric pressure.